Winter timetable sees first A-320 arrive from Zurich, but flights to Russia have been substantially cut (390 words)

Published: 10/30/2001

Troubled carrier Swissair started operations to Switzerland from Domodedovo Airport on 28th October 2001, with an A-320 arriving from Zurich at the airport and returning to Geneva. Markus Albrecht, General Manager of Swissair in Russia, reported that Swissair had decided to make the move in October when traffic was low, in order to minimize the inconvenience to passengers. Albrecht believes that the change of airport in Moscow has given the airline a significant improvement in customer service that the company can offer its passengers on ground. Albrecht said that, in 2000, Swissair carried almost 192,000 passengers between Russia and Switzerland or 18% up on 1999. He said that in January - August 2001, Swissair showed good traffic growth of around approximately 9%, although recent events and the grounding of the Swissair fleet for two days in October are likely to have substantially undermined this. He did add however, that the airline's Russian routes were not as severely affected as some other routes. Swissair's winter timetable for 2001/2002 started on 28th October 2001 and Albrecht says the company has revised its routes to Russia, reducing twice daily flights from Zurich to a single daily flight in conjunction with one daily flight to Geneva. He claimed that the flight is only suspended pending an improvement in outlook. Albrecht said that, during the summer, the airline had been running with load factors of 80%, but these have now fallen, reflecting the low traffic season. The first Swissair flight into Domodedovo from Zurich carried only 49 passengers, with 48 passengers departing for Geneva and 95 passengers flying to Zurich from Moscow on a 144 seat A-320. Albrecht added that Swissair's partner the Belgian carrier, Sabena, had decided to cancel its daily flight Brussels - Moscow due to the company's problems. Elsewhere, Swissair has cancelled its Zurich - St Petersburg flight, despite a load factor of 95% during the summer, although Albrecht says the flight was never profitable owing to the high concentration of the low priced tourist traffic and the absence of business passengers. Until the restructuring of the Swiss airline industry is complete and Swissair is merged with Crossair, the airline will continue to operate under the Swissair branding, with a change expected in mid-2002.

Article ID: 2872