Swiss International Air Lines released this statement:

SWISS significantly reduced its operating loss in 2021 from its prior-year level thanks to the transformation initiated, comprehensive cost-saving measures and strong cargo demand.

The operating loss for the year of CHF -427.7 million was around one-third smaller than the previous year (2020: CHF -653.8 million). Total revenue for 2021 amounted to CHF 2.10 billion, a 13.7-per-cent increase year-on-year (2020: CHF 1.85 billion). SWISS’s fourth-quarter operating result was a substantial improvement on the prior-year period, and the company ended the year with a positive cash flow. The transformation process initiated in the course of 2021 is on track, and is being further pursued through actions on the network, product and sustainability fronts. SWISS has also defined a series of concrete measures on the basis of its ‘CO₂ Road Map 2030’ to halve its net carbon dioxide emissions from their 2019 levels.

The repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic substantially depressed the annual results of Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) for the 2021 business year, too. Despite this, SWISS was able to significantly reduce its operating loss from its prior-year level, thanks to the transformation it initiated and to comprehensive cost-saving measures. The company also benefited from higher production (especially in the summer months) and continued very strong demand for its cargo services. The operating loss of CHF -427.7 million was around one-third smaller than the previous year (2020: CHF -653.8 million). Total revenue for 2021 amounted to CHF 2.10 billion, a 13.7-per-cent year-on-year improvement (2020: CHF 1.85 billion) but still less than half of its 2019 pre-crisis level.

Year-on-year earnings improvement for the fourth quarter

As expected, the positive earnings recorded for the third-quarter period of 2021 could not be sustained for the seasonally weaker fourth quarter. But SWISS was able to substantially improve on its prior-year fourth-quarter operating result, with the CHF -36.3 million achieved representing a year-on-year improvement of more than CHF 200 million (Q4 2020: CHF ‑239.1 million). Fourth-quarter revenue was also significantly increased: the CHF 734.6 million generated was more than double the revenue result for the prior-year period (Q4 2020: CHF 310.9 million).

“With the transformation that we successfully embarked on in 2021, we are well equipped to remain successful in our markets,” says SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx. “We now need to continue our transformation, with a particular focus this year on increasing our capacities to up to 80 per cent of their 2019 levels and on raising our schedules’ stability.”

Liquidity situation improved

Despite the unexpectedly protracted length of the present crisis, SWISS’s rigorous cost and cash management have ensured that the company has at no time utilized more than half of the CHF 1.5 billion bank loan facility which is 85-per-cent guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation. The total amount loaned was also increasingly reduced towards the end of 2021.

“Our restructuring has enabled us to achieve sustainable cost savings of CHF 500 million,” explains SWISS CFO Markus Binkert. “We were also able to stem the cash drain in the course of 2021 and even generate a positive cash flow for the year as a whole. And in doing so we have laid a firm and promising foundation for SWISS’s financial recovery.”

Increase in passenger numbers

SWISS[1] transported just under six million passengers in 2021, 22.6 per cent more than in the previous year. A total of 56,372 flights were performed, a 17.3-per-cent increase on 2020. SWISS offered 22.7 per cent more capacity systemwide in 2021 in available-seat-kilometre (ASK) terms, while total traffic volume in revenue passenger-kilometres (RPK) rose 15.2 per cent over the same period. Systemwide seat load factor amounted to 54.4 per cent, 3.6 percentage points below its prior-year level. Seat load factors for European services remained well above those for long-haul flights.

‘reach’ transformation program on track

To respond to the structural market changes that have been prompted by the coronavirus pandemic, SWISS launched a comprehensive transformation program under the name of ‘reach’ in the course of 2021. The program entails a 15-per-cent reduction in the size of the SWISS aircraft fleet. It also brought a planned resizing of the SWISS workforce through the elimination of some 1,700 full-time positions by the end of 2021, two thirds of which was achieved through voluntary actions and natural staff turnover. Investments in the SWISS product – such as the delivery and service entry of the Airbus A320neo and the introduction of the new SWISS Premium Economy Class – are further key pillars of the transformation program, as are a number of innovative projects on the sustainability front. Further program elements include extensive network optimizations to bring greater design flexibility to the overall offer of leisure and business travel air services in close coordination with sister airline Edelweiss. “We are on track to realign our company to the changed circumstances and conditions by 2023 and sustainably restore SWISS’s competitive credentials,” CEO Vranckx concludes.

Halving of CO₂ emissions by 2030 planned

While meeting the challenges of the pandemic has substantially occupied the company over the past two years, extensive measures to reduce the environmental impact of its activities remain a key SWISS strategic objective. To this end, the company has defined a number of concrete actions under its ‘CO₂ Road Map 2030’ to achieve its ambitious goal of halving its net carbon dioxide emissions from their 2019 levels. In addition to billions of investment in its fleet renewal program, these include large-scale optimizations in its flight operations. SWISS will, for instance, be the first passenger airline in the world to utilize the innovative AeroSHARK technology whose biomimetic riblet film enhances an aircraft’s aerodynamics, which will cut SWISS’s annual CO₂ emissions by up to 15,200 tons.

A further key element in the SWISS CO₂ Road Map is the company’s active promotion of the use of innovative technologies. In summer 2021 SWISS became the first scheduled airline to use sustainable aviation fuel in its regular flight operations from Switzerland. And this week SWISS and Swiss clean-tech company Synhelion concluded  a strategic collaboration to bring solar fuel to market. “Sustainable aviation fuel is the key to carbon-neutral flying, which we aim to achieve by 2050,” CEO Vranckx confirms. “So we are proud to be teaming up with Synhelion to play a pioneering role in the use of solar fuel.”

Swiss International Air Lines to be the world’s first airline to use Synhelion solar fuel

Swiss and the Lufthansa Group have concluded a strategic collaboration with the Synhelion company to bring its solar aviation fuel to market. This will make Swiss the first airline in the world to use ‘sun-to-liquid’ fuel. The process devised by Synhelion uses concentrated sunlight to produce carbon-neutral kerosene. With this collaboration, SWISS and Synhelion are playing a pioneering role in the production and the adoption of sustainable aviation fuels.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) and the Lufthansa Group have concluded a strategic collaboration with ETH Zurich spinoff Synhelion to bring solar aviation fuel to market. This will make SWISS the first airline in the world to use solar kerosene. “Our team-up with Synhelion is founded on our shared vision to make carbon-neutral flying in regular flight operations possible through the use of solar fuel,” explains SWISS Chief Executive Officer Dieter Vranckx. “We are proud that SWISS will be the first airline in the world to fly with solar kerosene. In partnering with Synhelion, we are supporting Swiss innovation and are actively pursuing and promoting the development, the market introduction and the scaling-up of this highly promising technology for producing sustainable fuels.”

Sunlight – the way to carbon-neutral flying

Synhelion has developed a key technology for manufacturing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) from renewable energy sources. The unique procedure uses concentrated solar heat to manufacture syngas which can then be synthesized into kerosene using standard industrial processes. This sun-to-liquid fuel closes the fuel carbon cycle: when combusted, it will only produce as much CO₂ as went into its manufacture. The new fuel thus makes a major contribution to effectively decarbonizing air transport.

Synhelion will build the world’s first-ever facility for the industrial production of solar fuel in Jülich (Germany) this year. SWISS is set to become the first customer for the solar kerosene in 2023. Under the collaboration now concluded, SWISS and the Lufthansa Group will support the development of Synhelion’s planned commercial fuel production facility in Spain, too.

Swiss pioneer Synhelion, Swiss, Edelweiss and the Lufthansa Group have been working together since 2020 to help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of Swiss aviation through the use of solar fuels.

Swiss plans pioneering role in the use of sustainable fuels from renewable sources

The Lufthansa Group and Swiss have been pursuing and promoting comprehensive measures to minimize their carbon dioxide emissions for several years now, and work closely with their partners to steadily further reduce the environmental impact of their business and operational activities. Swiss will be substantially increasing its use of sustainable aviation fuels in the next few years to help achieve its climate objectives. In view of the limited availability of biofuels, however, alternatives will be required. “This is why we are actively supporting the development of solar fuels,” stresses SWISS CEO Vranckx. “We want to be a pioneer in their use. So our involvement with Synhelion is a key element in our long-term sustainability strategy.”

Swiss International Air Lines made this announcement:

Due to the current developments, SWISS is no longer operating flights to and from Russia until the end of March. Affected passengers will be informed. SWISS will also no longer use Russian airspace until further notice and will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is to become the first passenger airline in the world to take advantage of the new AeroSHARK aircraft skin technology by applying the innovative riblet film to its Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircraft fleet. Its investment in this new technology will enable SWISS to substantially reduce its Boeing 777 fleet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and fuel consumption. AeroSHARK is a new biomimetic film which has been jointly developed by Lufthansa Technik and BASF. The film features millions of ‘riblets’ – small protrusions just 50 micrometers high – which replicate the highly hydrodynamic skin of sharks, and thus reduces an aircraft’s aerodynamic drag wherever it is applied.

Annual CO₂ emission savings of up to 15,200 tons

By applying a total of 950 square meters of AeroSHARK riblet film to the fuselage and engine nacelle surfaces of a Boeing 777, fuel savings of some 1.1 per cent can be achieved. This will reduce its annual fuel consumption by over 4,800 tonnes and the total annual carbon dioxide emissions of the SWISS Boeing 777 fleet by up to 15,200 tonnes – the amount emitted respectively by some 87 long-haul flights from Zurich to Mumbai.

SWISS will successively install the new AeroSHARK riblet film on its Boeing 777 fleet from mid-2022 onwards. The work will be performed when each aircraft’s downtimes permit.

SWISS involved in AeroSHARK’s development, too

SWISS has also supported Lufthansa Technik and BASF in their development of the AeroSHARK film for the Boeing 777. Back in summer 2021, the aerodynamic performance of a Boeing 777 wing was precisely monitored throughout a scheduled SWISS Zurich-San Francisco flight. The data collected have enabled Lufthansa Technik to devise high-precision 3D airflow simulation models which will be used in the near future to develop the AeroSHARK riblet film for additional application to the Boeing 777’s wings, to tap further fuel and emission savings potential.

Carbon-neutral by 2050

The adoption of the new AeroSHARK technology is a key initiative in SWISS’s broader endeavors to minimize its carbon dioxide emissions. It also underlines the company’s commitment to promoting the use of innovative technologies. SWISS has set itself the objectives of halving its net CO₂ emissions from their 2019 levels by 2030 and of making its business and operations carbon-neutral by 2050.

Swiss has taken delivery of its first Airbus A320neo featuring the new Airspace cabin configuration.

The new Airspace cabin features include: slimmer sidewall panels for extra personal space at shoulder level; better views through the windows with their redesigned bezels and completely integrated window shades; the largest overhead bins for 60% more bags; the latest full LED lighting technologies; LED-lit ‘entrance area’; and new lavatories with hygienic touchless features and antimicrobial surfaces.

Swiss is a long standing Airbus customer, operating Airbus A220 and A320 Family Aircraft on its European network and in addition A330s and A340s globally.

In 2018 Lufthansa Group, the parent company of Swiss, chose to equip more than 80 of its new A320 Family aircraft on order from Airbus with Airspace cabins.