The Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss suffered a loss of 398,2 million Swiss francs in the first half of the current year. In direct comparison with the same period in the previous year (-266,4 million Swiss francs), this slipped deeper into the red.

At 659,3 million Swiss francs, operating income was 43,5 percent below the previous year's figure (1st half of 2020: 1,17 billion Swiss francs). As in the previous year, Swiss recorded a slight upturn in the second quarter with a view to the summer travel season. However, the situation remains extremely tense. In order to restore investment and competitiveness, the Lufthansa subsidiary has initiated a comprehensive restructuring and transformation, including job and fleet reductions.

“In the first half of the year we were able to assert ourselves well under the prevailing adverse conditions. Thanks to rigid cost and cash management as well as consistent network and capacity control, we have kept the operating loss within limits and were able to realize a positive operating cash flow in the second quarter. We currently reckon that we will not have to take out more than around half of the bank loan, and are currently well below that, ”explains CFO Markus Binkert.

Rising booking numbers in the second quarter of 2021

As of April, Swiss saw a slight upturn in view of the summer travel season, as it did last year. In the second quarter, operating income rose by 47,6 percent year-on-year to CHF 359,7 million. (Q2 2020: CHF 243,7 million). At -197,2 million Swiss francs, the operating result was 8,2 percent below the previous year (Q2 2020: -182,3 million Swiss francs), but operating costs for ramping up flight operations and restructuring costs had an impact in the second quarter.
“The slight upswing that we have seen in recent weeks should not hide the fact that the situation is extremely tense as a result of the ongoing unpredictable pandemic development. Despite all the imponderables, we will do everything we can to do justice to our mandate as the airline of Switzerland and continue to offer our passengers as diverse and reliable a flight program as possible, ”said Swiss boss Dieter Vranckx.

The number of passengers remained at a very low level in the first half of the year. From January to June, Swiss carried a total of around one million passengers, 67,5 percent fewer than in the same period of the previous year, which was initially spared the corona pandemic. During this period, the Lufthansa subsidiary operated 13.060 flights, 56 percent fewer flights than in the previous year. In the first six months of 2021, SWISS offered 38,7 percent fewer seat kilometers (ASK) on the entire route network, and the number of seat kilometers sold (RPK) fell by 71,2 percent. The flight load factor (SLF) averaged 33,4 percent. This means that compared to the previous year, the flights were less busy by 37,8 percentage points. The load factor on European routes continued to be significantly higher than that on long-haul routes. In the second quarter, the number of passengers was significantly higher than in the first quarter. While Swiss carried around 63.000 passengers in the weakest month of February, it was around 362.000 in the strongest month of June.

In view of the increased demand for flights in the current summer travel season, SWISS is continuing to ramp up its flight operations. Two thirds of the SWISS fleet are now back in operation. At the end of June, Swiss again served over 90 percent of the destinations of the pre-Corona period, albeit with fewer frequencies. However, the total supply is still well below that of before the pandemic and is currently 50 to 55 percent of the capacity of 2019. For the full year 2021, the carrier expects a capacity of around 40 percent compared to 2019. Decisive for a further significant recovery is after as before, the opening of the USA as the most important traffic area for the Lufthansa subsidiary.