SWISS resumes services to Shanghai

LONDON – Swiss International Airlines (SWISS) has become the latest airline to resume scheduled passenger services to Shanghai.

In view of the now-eased entry provisions for Mainland China, SWISS has advised it will resume its passenger services between Zurich and Shanghai from 3 March. One weekly flight is currently planned on the route for the month of March.

Service on the route should then be expanded to three weekly frequencies from April onwards. The flights will principally be operated by the carriers Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The Airbus A340-300 may operate the route as an alternative.

“We’re delighted that we’ll soon be providing our customers with flights between Zurich and Shanghai again,” says SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour.

“It’s a high priority for us to meet the demand that is now growing again for travel between these two major business centres and beyond.”

“Shanghai remains one of the key points in our network in terms of both inbound and outbound travellers.”

Previous route suspension

SWISS suspended its previous scheduled passenger services between Zurich and Shanghai in April 2022.

The suspension was taken in view of the travel restrictions imposed in response to the coronavirus pandemic. From April 22 onwards, SWISS services on the route have since been limited to cargo-only operations.

In addition to resuming its Zurich-Shanghai passenger flights, SWISS will also be increasing its service to and from Hong Kong from five to six weekly frequencies in the 2023 summer schedules.

Replacement of Airbus A340 fleet

As part of the airline’s modernisation of its long-haul fleet, the Airbus A340-300s which provide a standby alternative on the Shanghai route, I set to be replaced with a newer and more efficient Airbus A350-900 twinjet aircraft.

From 2025 onwards, Switzerland’s biggest airline will gradually take delivery of five new advanced, highly economical and low-emission Airbus A350-900 twinjets, which will replace the airline’s four remaining four-engined Airbus A340-300s in the longer term.

The five aircraft concerned are part of a total order for twenty-five A350-900s which was placed by the Lufthansa Group in 2019.

In doing so, SWISS is further underlining its endeavours to make its flight operations more sustainable, while also raising its customers’ air travel experience to new levels in all seating classes.

The two-engined Airbus A350-900 is one of the most advanced and economical long-haul aircraft in airline service today. It produces some 25 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than its predecessor, and is more than twice as quiet, too.

The A350-900 also consumes as little as 2.5 litres of kerosene per 100 passenger-kilometres. In its SWISS configuration, the twinjet will be equipped with an innovative and state-of-the-art cabin interior in all seating classes. It also offers a particularly large cargo capacity which will further support SWISS’s Swiss WorldCargo business.