Swiss announced a restructuring plan to respond to changes in the air travel market. The carrier, part of the Lufthansa group, plans to reduce its aircraft fleet by 15 percent in addition to eliminating 1,700 full-time positions in its workforce.
Swiss will retire 10 first generation A320 family jets of which it has 26 units. The airline also confirmed that it will reduce its long-range aircraft fleet from 31 to 26 aircraft.
Although it only referred to Airbus models, the five jets to be retired are the remaining A340-300 four-engine, in line with the group’s plan to take less efficient aircraft out of service.
Swiss has also revealed that it will reduce wet lease services with Helvetic Airways by 15 percent of the size of 2019. The Swiss airline flies on behalf of its partner with its new E2 jets, from Embraer, rival of the A220.
Swiss’s fleet currently includes 91 aircraft, of which 31 are from the A320 family, with five new generation jets. In the new configuration, the airline is expected to maintain 29 A220, 21 A320/321, 14 A330-300 and 12 Boeing 777-300ER.
Dismissal of 780 employees
According to Swiss, around 1,000 employees are expected to have left the company by the end of 2021, but another 780 will lose their jobs due to the review of the scenario. There will be 200 ground personnel, 60 at Swiss Technics, 400 cabin personnel and 120 cockpit personnel.
“It has grown increasingly clear that our market is undergoing structural change, and that despite the actions which we were swift to take in response, a restructuring of our company now sadly seems unavoidable,” said Swiss CEO Dieter Vranckx.
