In the 2022/23 winter flight schedule, Swiss plans to wet-lease up to six Airbus A220-300s from Air Baltic. The machines are to be used in addition to the Embraer jets that Helvetic operates on behalf of the Lufthansa subsidiary.

In the current summer period 2022, Air Baltic is in wet lease operation for Eurowings, Eurowings Discover and SAS, among others. Five Airbus A220-300s fly from Düsseldorf for the first-named airline and EW Discover has leased two units for use from Munich.

Swiss intends to use the expected six wet lease machines primarily from Zürich-Kloten. A conscious decision was made in favor of Air Baltic or the A220-300 model, since the company already operates 21 aircraft of this type. The jets will take over flights that were previously planned with Swiss aircraft. They will be used on the entire European route network.

"With this cooperation, Swiss will further stabilize its flight schedule and increase planning security for its customers. In addition, this is intended to provide additional relief for the cabin crew,” says Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer at Swiss. “The airline Air Baltic is an ideal wet lease partner for us because, like Swiss, it operates the ultra-modern, environmentally friendly and innovative Airbus A220-300 aircraft. In addition, Air Baltic has already operated flights for other airlines in the Lufthansa Group this summer with great reliability”.

Irrespective of this, the Lufthansa subsidiary will continue to gradually hire and train its own cabin crew. Furthermore, the cooperation with Air Baltic is planned as an addition to the existing partnership with Helvetic Airways. In addition to the six Helvetic aircraft operated for Swiss all year round, further Helvetic aircraft can be used flexibly for the carrier in order to cover peak demand.