The airline Swiss is reducing its offer by around 2021 flights in the current winter timetable period 22/2.900. About 1.200 connections have already been taken out of sale in the last few weeks. Now there are a further 1.700 flights.

The background to this measure is that the demand is far below expectations. The extent of the reduction corresponds to around eight percent of the total capacity. The tightening of entry and quarantine regulations are having an extremely detrimental effect on the number of bookings for many European airlines. With some providers there is virtually nothing left after January 10, 2022. Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair, among others, have already reduced prices and are temporarily suspending various destinations.

Apparently too many employees have been cut at the Lufthansa subsidiary Swiss. It is currently assumed that there are too few flight attendants for the summer flight schedule of 2022. According to a report in the Tages-Anzeiger, they now want to bring back employees who have been separated from them. Those who have been terminated should be offered employment at Swiss again. However, it is still unclear whether the original wage conditions will be continued or not.

Many flight attendants do not want to be vaccinated

It is problematic for Swiss that around 200 flight attendants have not yet been presented with proof of vaccination. From the end of January 2022, the carrier wants to part with everyone who has not been vaccinated against Covid-19. However, there is the possibility that the employment relationship can be suspended for around six months. The largest airline in Switzerland wants to give people who are unsure a time to think about it. However, there is no salary during this period. Swiss now assumes that employees in the low three-digit range will leave the company due to the mandatory vaccination.

In the summer flight schedule of 2022, the Lufthansa subsidiary will fly with a fleet that has been reduced by 15 aircraft. Specifically, ten fewer aircraft will be operated on short and medium-haul routes. Five fewer A330 / A340s will be in use on long-haul routes. However, this measure is not new, it was communicated by Swiss in the summer of 2021. At the time, it was assumed that fewer staff would be required over the long term. In the downsizing process, the additional impact of the mandatory vaccination was obviously not sufficiently taken into account, so that Swiss is heading towards a staff shortage despite fewer aircraft.