Swiss is set to begin collaborating with three new codeshare partners, operating flights jointly with Spanair to Spain, with Blue1 to Helsinki and with All Nippon Airways (ANA) to Japan. The third daily Swiss connection…
Swiss is set to begin collaborating with three new codeshare partners, operating flights jointly with Spanair to Spain, with Blue1 to Helsinki and with All Nippon Airways (ANA) to Japan. The third daily Swiss connection between Zurich and New York becomes operational at the beginning of May.
The codeshare partnership with Spanair starts May 1, with all Swiss and Spanair flights between Switzerland and Spain being operated jointly. Star Alliance member Spanair flies from Madrid and Barcelona to Zurich, giving Swiss the most comprehensive and most varied service in terms of non-stop flights between Switzerland and Spain. Under the new codeshare arrangement, customers can choose from five daily flights from Zurich to Madrid and four daily flights to Barcelona. Swiss serves a total of four destinations in Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Malaga.
Finnish airline Blue1 has been operating flights on the Helsinki-Zurich route since the beginning of April. The inaugural flight on April 6 also marked the start of codeshare collaboration between Swiss and Blue1. The Star Alliance regional member operates one daily flight between Helsinki and Zurich.
SWISS and ANA begin codeshare flights between Zurich and Tokyo on June 2. ANA will place its code on the six weekly flights Swiss operates. This codeshare is a first step in forging a closer working relationship between the two airlines. Swiss and ANA are considering broadening their codeshare partnership to include domestic flights within Japan.
Third daily flight from Zurich to New York
Swiss introduces an additional service between Zurich and New York on May 1. Flight LX16 will serve New York-JFK six times weekly, which means Swiss customers departing from Zurich have up to three daily flights to choose from. In addition, Swiss also operates a daily service between Geneva and New York. Lufthansa and Swiss combined are tops in Europe for service to New York, operating 81 flights weekly from Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Geneva and Zurich. Anyone travelling to the Big Apple will find optimum connections with Lufthansa and Swiss to centrally located John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
To East and West Africa with Airbus A300-600
As of May 1, Swiss will use a Hapag-Lloyd Airbus A300-600 for its flights to Malabo/Douala/Yaounde and Nairobi/Dar es Salaam. This aircraft will have a two-class configuration (36 Business Class and 189 Economy Class seats) and offer the same seating comfort as the Swiss A330-200. Swiss plans to use this aircraft on these routes until the end of the summer timetable. From mid-June Swiss will increase the number of weekly flights to Nairobi/Dar es Salaam from three to four.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
