Switzerland’s flag carrier Swiss International Airlines says it navigated a challenging Q1 with a CHF 30.7 million operating profit, that is CHF 48 million lower than the same period later year. Focus shifts to enhancing service reliability and punctuality for the upcoming summer travel season, says the airline.

Swiss International Airlines says it registered an operating profit of CHF 30.7 million for the first three months of 2024, as against CHF 78.4 million in the corresponding period of last year, translating into a fall of CHF 48 million. Total revenues for Q1, 2024 amounted to CHF 1.2 billion, up 8.1 pc on revenues registered in Q1 2023.

In a press statement, Swiss says that the first quarter of the year is traditionally a very challenging quarter for the air transport sector. It says that the reasons for the drop in profits is due lower yields, weaker cargo business and higher costs, especially in terms of personnel expense.

Swiss says it has set itself the prime goal of providing both reliable and punctual air services in the coming summer months. It has launched a companywide programme to this end, and is also working closely and intensively with all the partners involved.

“As anticipated, the exceptional market conditions that our industry experienced immediately after the pandemic have continued to fade. Demand for travel remains high. But many airlines have further increased their capacities. This is tending to bring yields down from their prior-year levels – at our company, too. We have also seen a sizeable weakening in our air cargo business, which benefited from particularly strong tailwinds during Covid-19 times,” says Markus Binkert, Chief Financial Officer, Swiss.

The airline says that its earnings in the first three months of 2024

were also reduced by rising costs. In addition to the adverse effects of inflation and higher fuel prices, a rise in personnel costs was particularly felt as the terms of the new collective labour agreements for cockpit and cabin personnel were reflected in staff expense.

“Given that the first quarter of the year tends to be one of the weaker ones for seasonal reasons, we are satisfied with this earnings result. Our business has returned to normality at a high level. For our full-year results, though, the next two seasonally strong quarters will be key,” adds Binkert.

Swiss says it is preparing for the busy summer travel months. In doing so, the company is putting customer satisfaction firmly centrestage.

“Last year we were Europe’s stablest airline. We want to be so this summer, too, and offer our customers the kind of reliability that they should be able to expect from us. For a premium airline like ours, though, stability alone is not enough. So this year we aim to substantially improve our flights’ punctuality as well, in collaboration with our partners. To this end we have launched a companywide programme that is firmly focused on the satisfaction of our customers. We’re already working intensively on this, and are developing a wide range of actions to help us achieve these objectives,” says Dieter Vranckx, CEO, Swiss.

Swiss says it transported some 3.7 million passengers in the first three months of 2024, just under 17 pc more than in the same period last year. Almost 31,000 flights were operated in the period, a 14.5 pc increase on the first quarter of 2023. Systemwide, first-quarter production was raised 11.6 pc in available-seat-kilometre terms. Total first-quarter traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometres, was up 11.3 pc. Systemwide seat load factor for the first-quarter period stood at 80.7 pc, down 0.2 percentage points from its prior-year level.