Within the summer timetable period 2006 SWISS is to offer an additional daily service between Zurich and New York from May 1. With the introduction of the new frequency, Swiss WorldCargo customers will have a choice of two daily services to New York from Zurich and a daily flight from Geneva. The enhanced schedules will help to further consolidate Swiss WorldCargo’s position in the North Atlantic market. The new flight, which will be operated with Airbus A330-200 equipment, will depart from Zurich at 13:00 (local time) and arrive in New York JFK at 15:40 (local time). The eastbound service will leave New York JFK at 21:00 and will arrive in Zurich at 10:55 the following morning.
As you well know Swiss WorldCargo’s network includes the entire belly-hold capacity of the SWISS fleet plus some third-party capacities. One highlight is certainly our cooperation with our partner Lufthansa Cargo. Lufthansa Cargo and Swiss WorldCargo have concluded a comprehensive capacity agreement under which each airline can make use of selected cargo capacity on the partner airline’s network. The accord guarantees each partner a certain amount of cargo capacity on each of the other partner’s flights which means a valuable extension of our network. Already since December 1, 2005 Lufthansa Cargo guarantees customers of Swiss WorldCargo capacity on flights from Frankfurt to Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Madras and Tehran.
On the other hand Swiss WorldCargo decided to investigate more profitable alternatives to our current MNG full freighter cooperation on the routes ZRH – KHI vv, ZRH – IST vv and ZRH – RUH vv. This means that we have given notice to MNG that our contract with them will expire with the beginning of the summer timetable 2006. While the MNG operation had strategic value in allowing us to maintain KHI online after termination of LX flights in 2004, and demonstrating our ability to purchase and market capacity outside of the LX network, a pre-condition has always been a profitable operation. Despite several success stories during our cooperation with MNG, the cost of fuel has risen inexorably, and these costs have only partially been offset by surcharges. Therefore we will not extend the contract with MNG’s A300 full-freighter to Karachi, Riyadh and Istanbul beyond the end of the winter.
To a certain point the resigned MNG capacity can be replaced: Swiss WorldCargo announces 2 additional evening flights per week to Istanbul with an Airbus A320. Therefore the Swiss WorldCargo product on this important route will be enhanced.
The Swiss WorldCargo Summer 2006 offers besides additional flights also a new destination: With beginning of the new timetable period SWISS will offer flights to Santiago de Chile (SCL). The SCL route will be flown via Sao Paolo/GRU. These new services are another positive consequence of our extended cooperation with Lufthansa. In addition SWISS and Lufthansa have in general coordinated their schedules to South America.
On another note please be informed that SAS and SWISS signed an agreement to Code Share cooperation. In a first step SAS publishes their flight number on SWISS’s BKK-SIN-BKK routes as from 26 March 2006. We are welcoming a Star partner on our capacity and trust in a fruitful cooperation also on other routes soon.
The Swiss WorldCargo airfreight network is traditionally augmented by a finely meshed truck network in Europe and North America, accounting for around one quarter of Swiss WorldCargo’s total freight volumes, and enabling Swiss WorldCargo to support integrated global supply chains for its customers. Additionally to our constant schedule our trucking network is individually adopted to our customers’ transportation needs.
Swiss WorldCargo is the airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines AG. With a worldwide network serving more than 150 destinations in more than 80 countries and a broad spectrum of services, Swiss WorldCargo earns genuine added-value for its customers and makes a substantial contribution to the earnings of SWISS.
For further information please visit swissworldcargo.com
Note to editors:
For further information about Swiss WorldCargo, pictures and interview requests please contact:
Bernd Maresch
General Manager Marketing and PR
bernd.maresch@swiss.com
Phone +41 1 564 50 50