Swiss is to make major cuts in its fleet and staff in a new effort to cut costs and survive.
The airline announced it would reduce its fleet by 13 regional aircraft and cut between 800-1000 of its staff by mid-2006.The aim is to cut 194m of its annual costs.
A statement by the airline warned that if the cuts were not implemented quickly, it would not make an operating profit this year.
In the statement, Swiss's directors and management outlines a range of planned cuts.
These include:
* reducing the fleet size by 13 regional aircraft
* up to 1000 job losses over the next 18 months
* negotiations on collective labour agreements
* downgrading its hubs at Geneva and Basel
The directors and management said the flights affected by the loss of 13 aircraft should “largely” be taken over by unnamed “partner airlines.”
A “large number” of flights from Basel would be taken over by or code-shared with partners. Unprofitable routes at Geneva would also be code-shared.
But operations at Zurich, its main hub, would be expanded to include more code-sharing.
Job losses will be discussed with the unions but the airline said about a third would go by natural attrition.
The airline also intends to negotiate with its unions to ensure that all staff are deployed “more productivity.”
Swiss, which has just launched a new, six times a week business-only service between Zurich and New York Newark, said that while results on intercontinental flights in 2004 were “particularly encouraging” results on European services were “less than satisfactory.”
The statement said that analyses of these routes showed that the airline's European operation “can not be operated profitably with the present production structures.”
Christoph Franz, president and ceo, said: “The additional actions we have now resolved are essential to make Swiss sustainably competitive and create prospects for growth.”