The airline Swiss recorded a loss of 47,4 million Swiss francs in the first quarter of the current year. This is around 75 percent below that of the same period last year.

Operating income doubled to 712 million Swiss francs. At the same time, however, Swiss are struggling with the sharp rise in kerosene prices. Nevertheless, from today's perspective, one is of the opinion that one can fly in the black for the whole of 2022. In view of the positive development in the liquidity situation, the Lufthansa subsidiary plans to restructure the bank loan in the second quarter.

"The significant improvement in earnings that we were able to generate compared to the previous year and the positive cash flow make us confident and confirm our goal of closing the full year 2022 in the black," says CFO Markus Binkert.

In the last three months, Swiss has succeeded in further significantly reducing the drawn amount of the bank loan of 85 billion Swiss francs, 1,5 percent of which is guaranteed by the federal government. The Swiss CFO explains: “The stable business development and the positive development of our liquidity situation allow us to now consider alternative financing for the repayment of the bank loan. Provided that further geopolitical developments allow it, we aim to restructure our debt in the course of the second quarter.”

1,8 million passengers in the first quarter of 2022

In the first quarter of 2022, Swiss carried a total of over 1,8 million passengers, almost 6,5 times more than in the previous year. Nevertheless, passenger numbers are still well below the level of the pre-crisis year 2019. In total, the Lufthansa subsidiary operated more than 18.300 flights, which corresponds to a fourfold increase compared to the same period in the previous year. In the first quarter of 2022, Swiss offered a total of 156,6 percent more seat kilometers (ASK) across the entire route network, and the number of seat kilometers sold (RPK) rose by 487,3 percent in the same period. The average seat load factor was 62,9 percent and was thus 35,4 percentage points above the previous year's value.

"The current trend makes us hopeful that the turning point of the pandemic has been reached. It is also clear that our restructuring measures are having an effect. We owe the fact that we can look positively ahead again today, above all, to the tireless commitment of our employees," says company boss Dieter Vranckx. "Despite the many uncertainties that are currently shaping the market, we believe we are in a good position to continue to maintain our position as one of Europe's leading airlines."