During the Christmas and New Year holidays, a time known for its high travel demand, Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) successfully transported a total of 546,961 passengers. This achievement reflects the company's commitment to maintaining nearly 99% of its scheduled flights, despite challenging weather conditions and significant illness-related staff absences.
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From December 22, 2023, to January 2, 2024, SWISS managed to maintain a schedule stability of 98.5%, meaning that almost all flights were operated as planned, albeit with some delays. This is a slight decrease from the previous holiday period's stability of 99.4%, during which 467,955 passengers were transported.
Oliver Buchhofer, SWISS Head of Operations, expressed his satisfaction with the company's performance, attributing the success to the exceptional dedication and hard work of all SWISS employees. Despite the busy holiday season, the company was able to ensure that most of its customers reached their destinations to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
However, the past two weeks were not without challenges. Adverse weather conditions, including strong winds, frost, and snow, caused several delays and 58 flight cancellations. Additionally, a wave of colds and flu led to a number of staff absences. Despite these obstacles, 17% of all SWISS flights arrived at their destination with a delay of over 30 minutes, and 58% of all departures took off within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time. Buchhofer emphasized that the company's primary operational goal during the holiday season was to operate as many scheduled services as possible to ensure passengers could spend the holidays with their loved ones. This focus on schedule stability is part of SWISS's ongoing commitment to improving the punctuality of its flights, as announced last summer.