SWISS Announces Third-quarter Profits

DALLAS - Swiss International Air Lines (LX) has reported marginally positive earnings for the third quarter 2022 financial year.

The airline announced an operating result of CHF287.5m (US$291.19m). Meanwhile, total revenue was up by 91% on the previous year at CHF707.8m (US$716.88m).

Four million passengers were carried in the third quarter, while some 9.3 million passengers were carried during the first nine months of 2022. This was approximately two-and-a-half times as many passengers as last year.

Over 30,000 flights were operated during the third quarter, up from 22,000 in the same period last year. Swiss also enjoyed an 89.4% load factor for the period, an increase of 23% from last year.

Deliveries of several A320neos have been deferred. Photo: Fabrizio Spicuglia/Airways

Effective Restructuring

‘“In this most important quarter of the year for us as an airline in financial terms, the reduced capacities industrywide and the high pent-up demand for air travel combined to provide advantageous market conditions,” explained LX Chief Financial Officer Markus Binkert.

“And thanks to our effective restructuring and the high scheduling stability that we managed to maintain throughout the summer months, we were able to translate these conditions into strong business results.”

LX's strategic restructuring programme is known as ‘Reach.’ It was introduced to achieve savings of CHF500m (US$506.15m). This has included fleet restructuring, removing older airframes, and deferring delivery of incoming Airbus A320neos.

LX's Airbus A340-300s are gradually leaving the fleet. Photo: Sean Brink/Airways

Pay Deals Reached

The airline has also reached an agreement with its ground and flight deck crews regarding pay, helping to avoid a potential strike. Speaking of the deal, SWISS CEO Dieter Vranckx said, “The agreements that we have recently reached with our social partners for our ground and our cockpit personnel provide new prospects and perspectives and further strengthen our operational stability.”

“As such, these developments are of fundamental importance to our continued business success, not only for 2022 but also beyond. We expect as well to be able to conclude our collective labour agreement negotiations with our social partner for our cabin personnel by the end of November,” he added.

Featured Image: LX Boeing 777-300ER (HB-JND). Photo: Alberto Cucini/Airway