Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is expanding its summer 2027 schedule across Europe and Asia. The airline of Switzerland is adding Toulouse to its route network. From 25 June to 23 August 2027, SWISS will connect Zurich with the southern French metropolis twice weekly.

Toulouse is one of Europe’s most important aerospace and innovation hubs and a major business and research location. The “Ville Rose” is renowned for its distinctive pink brick architecture, vibrant streets and diverse culinary scene. It also serves as an ideal starting point for exploring the Occitanie region, its picturesque villages and the nearby Pyrenees.

More flights to popular destinations in Europe

Europe remains in strong demand among SWISS customers. The airline is therefore further expanding its offering on selected routes. Paris will be served 30 times per week instead of 28, while Nice will increase from 32 to 34 weekly flights. SWISS will also increase frequencies to Hamburg, Budapest and Bremen.

SWISS is also expanding its service to Niš in Serbia. Following the route’s reintroduction in summer 2026, the airline will now operate flights to Niš throughout the entire summer season and increase frequencies from two to three flights per week.

Bengaluru remains part of the summer schedule

Asia is another key focus of the summer 2027 schedule. SWISS will continue operating its new service to Bengaluru, one of Asia’s leading technology and innovation hubs, throughout summer 2027. The route will be introduced in the winter 2026/27 timetable and strengthens Switzerland’s direct connectivity to a dynamic growth market. At the same time, it offers attractive travel opportunities for business travellers and customers visiting family and friends.

SWISS is also expanding its services to Tokyo. Until the end of May and again in October, the airline will operate daily flights from Zurich to the Japanese capital. Between June and September, frequencies will increase from five to six weekly flights compared with the previous summer schedule.

SWISS is also expanding its service to Montreal. During summer 2027, the route will be operated daily instead of five times per week.

95 destinations from Zurich

The summer 2027 timetable will run from 28 March to 30 October 2027. SWISS will serve 95 destinations from Zurich, two more than in summer 2026. The schedule comprises 69 European and 26 intercontinental destinations.

SWISS is also expanding its offering from Geneva. As decisions on certain available airport slots are still pending, further details regarding the summer 2027 schedule from Geneva will be announced in the coming days.

Route Map:

SWISS will be offering its First and Business Class travellers culinary delights in collaboration with Zurich’s traditional Baur au Lac hotel from today onwards in the latest chapter of the airline’s ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ inflight foodservice programme. The new meals have been created by top chefs Laurent Eperon and Maximilian Müller of the hotel’s Pavillon gourmet restaurant. SWISS Premium Economy Class passengers can also enjoy a range of food specialities inspired by the Zurich region.

For the next three months, Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will be offering its First and Business Class travellers culinary creations from Zurich’s world-famous Baur au Lac. The traditional five-star hotel beside Lake Zurich is, like SWISS, committed to the highest product and service quality. So the new collaboration with the hotel’s own Pavillon gourmet restaurant provides SWISS with an excellent opportunity to pamper its inflight guests at the highest level.

Laurent Eperon and Maximilian Müller, the two chefs de cuisine of the two-Michelin-star and 18-GaultMillau-point Pavillon, will be treating SWISS’s premium travellers on long-haul services from Switzerland to their modern interpretation of French haute cuisine. For their ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ creations they have also drawn strongly on specialities from Canton Zurich to help further familiarize SWISS’s customers with Switzerland’s sheer culinary variety.

Travellers in Premium Economy Class on SWISS flights from Switzerland will also be offered an inflight menu inspired by regional culinary specialities of Canton Zurich.

An award-winning gastronomy concept for the last 20 years

SWISS has been taking the First, Business and Premium Economy Class travellers on its long-haul services on a journey of culinary discovery through Switzerland’s various regions since December 2002. Every three months a new Michelin-starred and GaultMillau-point top chef is invited to present ‘their’ canton to SWISS passengers aloft by creating a varied selection of top-quality meals with a particular focus on regional and seasonal specialities. The meals are also accompanied by wine and cheese specialities from the region concerned. In its almost 20-year success story to date, ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ has welcomed aboard a total of 75 guest chefs from every one of Switzerland’s 26 cantons.

The SWISS First, Business and Premium Economy Class menus for this latest ‘SWISS Taste of Switzerland’ chapter are attached to this media release.

In other news, the last former Swiss A319 has been scrapped at Saint Athen, Wales.

Some parts have been retained for other carriers.

The Swiss A319 fleet was replaced by newer Airbus A220-300s in 2020.

Swiss aircraft photo gallery:

Swiss International Air Lines has completed the installation of its Premium Economy Class on its Boeing 777-300 fleet.

Passengers on all 12 Triple Sevens can now enjoy its greater privacy and enhanced inflight comfort.

Photos by Swiss.

Swiss aircraft photo gallery:

Swiss International Air Lines made this announcement:

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) terminated its bank loan facility guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation at the end of May 2022. With the pandemic situation now more stable and with the eased travel restrictions prompting positive trends in the company’s liquidity, SWISS is now able to meet its financing needs on the capital markets via the Lufthansa Group. In view of this, SWISS has terminated the bank loan facility which was 85% guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation ahead of its regular end date of 2025. SWISS has never drawn more than half of the total loan amount available under the facility since it was established, and paid a total of CHF 60 million in interest and fees during the loan facility period.

“The COVID pandemic triggered the greatest crisis that the aviation sector has ever experienced all over the globe,” says Reto Francioni, Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors. “We are thankful to the Swiss Confederation, led by the Federal Department of Finance, for their belief in the future of our company in this very difficult period. And we have demonstrated in return just how much substance and how much further potential we have within our ranks. Through this great collaborative achievement, the Swiss Confederation, the banks and SWISS have jointly ensured that one of the most vital companies to the Swiss economy has been able to meet and master the acute threat it faced as a result of the COVID crisis.”

All loan conditions met

SWISS reacted immediately following the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020, initiating extensive cost-saving measures to reduce its liquidity outflow. The Lufthansa Group also supported SWISS with CHF 500 million in loans during the pandemic. The bank loan facility which was guaranteed by the Swiss Confederation was also tied to certain locational conditions, compliance with which was monitored by the Swiss Aviation Foundation. The prime requirement here was the proportionate development of SWISS compared to the further airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

“We are very grateful to the Swiss Confederation that, together with the banks, it provided SWISS and Edelweiss with the liquidity they needed during the COVID pandemic,” says Dieter Vranckx, Chief Executive Officer of SWISS and Chairman of the Edelweiss Board of Directors. “As a result, we were able to secure the jobs of a large part of our Swiss-based workforce and give ourselves sustainably competitive cost structures, while still keeping Switzerland connected with the world throughout the pandemic period. And we have now been able to ramp up our operations again at our Zurich hub in harmony with the further hubs of the Lufthansa Group, and to proportionately develop our range of air services.”

A return through restructuring to financial stability

SWISS initiated a restructuring in summer 2021 which saw its aircraft fleet downsized some 15 per cent and its workforce reduced by around 1,700 full-time positions by the end of last year. “The actions we took are having their effect,” confirms SWISS Chief Financial Officer Markus Binkert. “After incurring cumulative losses of more than CHF 1 billion in the past two years, we have now been able to return SWISS to financial stability, and generated a positive cash flow in the first quarter of this year. This in turn enables us to emerge from the Swiss state’s support ahead of time and meet our future financial needs on the capital markets via the Lufthansa Group.”

Swiss aircraft photo gallery:

Swiss International Air Lines made this announcement:

The ‘Airtrain’ is going international: SWISS is expanding its collaboration with SBB Swiss Federal Railways on its intermodal transport service, which will in future be known as ‘SWISS Air Rail’. From July 2022 onwards, SWISS customers can take advantage of the first-ever international rail/air connection in the form of a new train service between Munich Hauptbahnhof and Zurich Airport. SWISS Air Rail services in Switzerland are also set to be further expanded in collaboration with the SBB.

Train route network:

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is intensifying its collaboration with SBB Swiss Federal Railways to expand its intermodal rail/air travel product under the new name of ‘SWISS Air Rail’. To further enhance its customers’ train connections to and from its Zurich Airport hub, SWISS is adding Munich Hauptbahnhof in Germany to its intermodal SWISS Air Rail network. The new Munich-Zurich Airport route joins the existing rail/air services between Zurich Airport and the SBB stations of Basel SBB, Lugano and Geneva which have been gradually established over the past few years under the ‘Airtrain’ name. The new Munich service is the first such rail/air connection between Zurich Airport and a point in a neighbouring country.

From 1 July 2022 onwards, travellers holding a SWISS flight ticket can thus take advantage of rail services between Munich Hauptbahnhof and Zurich Airport which can be seamlessly combined with their flight. “Together with the SBB, we’re taking a big further step forward in offering our customers complementary travel options,” says SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour. “We are jointly seeking to provide smarter combinations of rail and air transport wherever these make sense. And we’re marking a particular milestone here in offering – with Munich – our first-ever international SWISS Air Rail connection.”

“I am delighted that it will now be easier to combine rail and air travel on the Munich-Zurich Airport route, too,” adds Véronique Stephan, the SBB’s Head of Passenger Services Markets. “This new service will enable SWISS customers living a short or a medium distance away from SWISS’s Zurich hub to make greater use of rail connections to get to and from the airport. And with these quick and direct new rail services, they’ll enjoy the best possible connections with their SWISS flights.”

Six trains a day in both directions

The timetable for the new SWISS Air Rail service between Munich Hauptbahnhof and Zurich Airport offers SWISS travellers a choice of six SBB trains a day in each direction. Trains may also be boarded or left in Bregenz en route. The rail ticket is included in the SWISS air fare, and can be booked now together with the flight ticket on www.swiss.com or at any travel agency. As on all its other SWISS Air Rail routes, SWISS offers users of the service guaranteed connections in the event of a delay.

SWISS customers using SWISS Air Rail who are Miles & More members will earn status and award miles on their SWISS Air Rail ticket, too, with the number of miles earned depending on their connecting flight and class of travel. SWISS First and SWISS Business travellers using SWISS Air Rail will also travel in first class on the train; and both they and HON Circle and Senator status customers can make use of the Munich Hauptbahnhof DB Lounge. All travellers using SWISS Air Rail from or to Munich will also enjoy automatic seat reservation and free WiFi access.

Further expansion planned in Switzerland from this summer onwards

The range of SWISS Air Rail options in Switzerland is also to be further expanded together with the SBB. The plans here include selected new intermediate stops on existing SWISS Air Rail routes from summer 2022 to enable even more SWISS travellers to take advantage of these seamless rail connections to and from SWISS’s Zurich Airport hub. The Geneva-Zurich Airport service will also allow travellers holding a SWISS flight ticket to join or leave the train in Lausanne, Fribourg or Bern; and the Lugano-Zurich Airport service will offer a similar boarding/leaving option in Bellinzona. SWISS and the SBB further plan to introduce improved baggage collection and delivery services for SWISS Air Rail users.

SWISS and the SBB continue to work steadily to further enhance the rail-and-air-travel combination by further expanding their joint product and service portfolio. In addition to ensuring the best possible connections between SWISS’s global network and further (above all tourist) destinations, the partners are putting a particular focus on offering direct rail services and on optimizing their customer assistance in the event of operational irregularities.

Swiss aircraft photo gallery:

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is celebrating the 20^th anniversary of its foundation this year. The first-ever SWISS flight was performed from Basel to Zurich on 31 March 2002. The airline has been keeping Switzerland connected with the world ever since, bringing people together and making a vital contribution to promoting the country as an attractive place to visit and do business. “If it weren’t for the great loyalty of our customers, the strong commitment of our employees in the air and on the ground, our fruitful collaborations with our airport partners and our suppliers and – not least – the firm support that we have received from the Swiss people, the Swiss political world and the banks, including in the present pandemic times, SWISS would simply not be one of the leading airlines today,” says company CEO Dieter Vranckx. “We have all achieved so much together. And I would like to say a sincere thank-you to everyone who has given us such strong and solid support over the past 20 years, and has helped us ensure that SWISS will continue to fly the Swiss cross with pride and with gratitude all over the globe.”

An eventful history

SWISS’s early years, following its creation on the foundations of Crossair and of Swissair’s flight operations, were marked by rigorous restructurings and uncertainties over its continued viability. An initially oversized aircraft fleet had to be substantially downscaled, together with the original workforce, before the new company could generate profits from its flight operations. The new SWISS also lacked the critical mass required to survive alone in the fiercely competitive air travel market. Such critical mass was secured in 2005, however, through the company’s integration into the Lufthansa Group. From then on, SWISS was able to benefit from the group’s strength and synergies, and achieved its financial turnaround as early as the following year.

The next SWISS milestone was also in 2006, when the company joined Star Alliance, the world’s biggest airline grouping. One year later Delhi became the first new intercontinental destination to be added to the SWISS route network since the airline’s foundation. It was followed by Shanghai (2008), San Francisco (2010), Beijing (2012) and Singapore (2013), all key points for Switzerland and all served with non-stop flights. Two further long-haul destinations – Washington and Osaka – were due to be added in 2020, but had such plans shelved by the coronavirus pandemic.

SWISS today serves 92 destinations from its Zurich hub and 46 points from Geneva. It carries more passengers and cargo than any Swiss airline has ever transported in the past. And together with its sister airline Edelweiss, which also joined the Lufthansa Group in 2008, the company is very well positioned in the premium business and leisure air travel segments.

Billions of investments in a premium product and an advanced aircraft fleet

SWISS’s takeoff into a new era was mirrored in 2011 by its adoption of a new corporate brand. Over the following decade some CHF 8 billion was invested in acquiring the most advanced and fuel-efficient aircraft, in substantially expanding its destination portfolio from Zurich and Geneva and in further enhancing its premium product in the form of new lounges and aircraft cabins. At the same time, SWISS was compelled to end its flight operations in Basel in 2015, after a changed market environment and difficult political parameters had blighted prospects and perspectives in the premium travel segment. Just one year later, though, came one of the biggest highlights in the company’s 20-year history to date: the addition to the SWISS fleet of the world’s first highly economical Airbus A220 (which was then known as the Bombardier C Series). The same year saw the delivery of SWISS’s first Boeing 777-300ER, its long-haul flagship, twelve of which are now in service.

SWISS will continue to promote such investments in sustainability and in its product in the years ahead. The company has set itself the two objectives of halving its carbon dioxide emissions from their 2019 level by 2030 and of making its operations carbon-neutral by 2050. “Sustainability is one of our key strategic pillars,” explains CEO Vranckx. “Over the past 20 years we have reduced our carbon dioxide emissions per passenger-kilometre by around 30 per cent. We continue to work on improving our fuel efficiency; and, among other endeavours, we are also lobbying strongly for the development and market introduction of sustainable aviation fuel, to help us achieve our ambitious ecological objectives.” SWISS will also have welcomed 25 state-of-the-art Airbus A320/321neos into its fleet by the end of 2025. These highly advanced aircraft emit some 20 per cent less carbon dioxide than their predecessor models.

Airline of Switzerland: mission accomplished

The crisis prompted by the coronavirus pandemic has further confirmed the vital importance of having an ‘Airline of Switzerland’ or a Swiss-based hub carrier. SWISS, together with its sister airline Edelweiss, performed a total of 86 flights under the biggest repatriation programme ever conducted by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs to bring stranded travellers back home. Between the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 and February 2022, SWISS’s Swiss WorldCargo airfreight division also performed no fewer than 2,650 all-cargo flights that transported over 69,300 tonnes of cargo and provided Switzerland besides many with urgently-needed medical supplies such as facemasks and vaccines.

In the 20 years since its foundation SWISS has performed 2.8 million flights of an aggregate distance of 3.8 billion kilometres, or 95,000 times around the world. These flights have transported just under 266 million passengers – about 40 times the population of Switzerland – and 5.6 million tonnes of cargo, the equivalent in weight of some 560 Eiffel Towers.

Twenty aircraft namings and many more anniversary activities planned

SWISS is marking its 20^th anniversary with a wide range of activities and attractive offers. The latter will be launched with a 48-hour sale from 2 April in which customers can take advantage of attractive fares throughout the European network. In addition, 20 of SWISS’s advanced Airbus A220 aircraft will be formally named after Swiss tourist resorts between now and year-end. The naming ceremonies will be held in selected locations throughout Switzerland, on a “We’ll come to you” basis.

Further anniversary attractions include a special jubilee video (above) that captures the landmark moments in SWISS’s 20-year history to date. SWISS travelers will be able to immerse themselves in the SWISS story, too: from July to September, passengers will be offered a special edition of the inflight SWISS Magazine providing intriguing insights into the fascinating SWISS world of the past two decades along with our travel specialists’ favorite destinations. Also planned is a big 20^th anniversary competition offering various attractive prizes.

In other news, SWISS inaugurated our new Zurich-Bologna route, Bologna Airport being the 4th new destination in the summer timetable. SWISS connects the two cities with four weekly flights as of today.