1 February 2008
SWISS enhances services to Cameroon
The SWISS long-haul route network will see a further innovation this summer. Douala will receive non-stop service to and from Zurich three times a week. Yaoundé will also enjoy a thrice-weekly service, via Douala. The revised and expanded flight pattern will substantially enhance SWISS services to Cameroon. While the new operation means the withdrawal of the present intermediate stop in Malabo, service will continue to be offered to Malabo on Lufthansa via Frankfurt. The 2008 summer schedules will also bring a new collaboration between SWISS and Contact Air, which will provide two Fokker 100 aircraft to join those already operated under a wet-lease agreement with Helvetic Airways. The new transports will be used on SWISS’s Zurich-based services to Warsaw, Venice and Stuttgart.
SWISS will offer its customers thrice-weekly non-stop service between Zurich and Douala from the start of the 2008 summer schedules. Douala has so far been served twice a week on a routing via Malabo; this intermediate landing is now being withdrawn. Service will also be enhanced on the Zurich-Yaoundé route, where the present weekly flight will be increased to three weekly frequencies, routed via Douala.
The new expanded services are a direct response to growing customer demand for more frequencies to Cameroon, and should substantially raise SWISS’s local market profile. Customers wishing to travel to Malabo will still be able to do so: Lufthansa will be offering three weekly services between Frankfurt and the capital of Equatorial Guinea from April 1 onwards, with convenient connecting flights to and from its Frankfurt hub. Lufthansa will also offer a weekly service to Luanda, Angola in its summer schedules. So all in all, the new service patterns should strengthen the Lufthansa Group’s presence and position in the African air travel market.
A new wet-lease partner
Contact Air, a regional Lufthansa partner, will assume operating responsibility for SWISS’s Zurich-Warsaw (thrice daily), Zurich-Venice (thrice daily) and Zurich-Stuttgart (six times weekly) services from April 1. The services will be operated using two Fokker 100 aircraft. The Fokker 100 has a capacity of 100 passengers. In Contact Air, SWISS has secured the services of an experienced partner to expand its present wet-lease arrangements. Wet-lease partner Helvetic Airways will be deploying three Fokker 100s on SWISS’s behalf in the 2008 summer schedules on services between Zurich and Budapest (thrice daily), Manchester (thrice daily), Birmingham (twice daily) and Brussels (one daily). And UK-based Flightline will be operating SWISS’s thrice-daily service between Zurich and Prague in the 2008 summer schedules under a further wet-lease agreement.
The innovations in brief
Intercontinental services
LX274
12.30-17.55
(three times weekly)
LX274
18.55-19.40
(three times weekly)
LX275
21.00-21.45
(three times weekly)
LX275
22.55-06.25
(three times weekly)
European services
SWISS flights operated by Contact Air
LX1342
07.15-09.10
Daily
LX1343
09.45-11.50
Daily
LX1348
12.05-14.00
Daily
LX1349
14.35-16.40
Daily
LX1352
17.15-19.10
Daily
LX1353
19.45-21.50
Daily
LX1660
07.35-08.40
Daily
LX1661
09.40-10.55
Daily
LX1664
17.40-18.45
Daily
LX1665
20.25-21.30
Daily
LX1178
22.40-23.20
(six times weekly)
LX1179
06.00-06.40
(six times weekly)
SWISS flights operated by Helvetic Airways
LX 2250
07.25-08.55
(Daily)
LX 2251
09.50-11.30
(Daily)
LX 2254
12.30-14.00
(Daily)
LX 2255
14.45-16.25
(Daily)
LX 2258
17.20-18.55
(Daily)
LX 2259
19.50-21.25
(Daily)
LX 390
07.10-08.05
(Daily)
LX 391
08.40-11.45
(Daily)
LX 394
12.10-13.05
(Daily)
LX 395
13.40-16.40
(Daily)
LX 380
17.15-18.10
(Daily)
LX 381
18.45-21.45
(Daily)
LX 420
07.10-08.05
(Daily)
LX 421
08.40-11.40
(Daily)
LX 424
17.15-18.05
(Daily)
LX 425
18.40-21.35
(Daily)
LX 780
12.40-14.00
(Daily)
LX 781
15.00-16.20
(Daily)
SWISS flights operated by Flightline
LX 1485
09.50-11.15
(Daily)
LX 1486
12.45-14.10
(Daily)
LX 1487
14.45-16.10
(Daily)
LX 1498
17.35-18.55
(Daily)
LX 1499
19.45-21.10
(Daily)