Swiss International Air Lines, trading as SWISS, announced that it would continue several of its summer seasonal routes into the upcoming winter season, which includes flights to Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD). In addition, several destinations will get additional frequencies, including three United States cities.

Continuing during the winter season

The Swiss airline announced that it would continue flying between Zurich Airport (ZRH) and IAD during the winter season, operating five weekly flights on the route. This comes as the carrier will also operate daily flights to London Gatwick Airport (LGW) and three weekly flights to Cluj Avram Iancu International Airport (CLJ), Romania, and Košice International Airport (KSC), Slovakia.

SWISS announced that it would fly to IAD on September 12, 2023. The US capital became one out of two new summer-only long-haul destinations from ZRH, with the other being Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ). At the time, Tamur Goudarzi Pour, the then-chief commercial officer (CCO) of SWISS, detailed that it was clear that travel was a deeply rooted human desire, which has become evident following the pandemic. The CCO added that demand has continued to rise, with SWISS experiencing record-breaking load factors.

Adding additional flights

In addition to the continuation of flights to IAD, SWISS will add additional frequencies from ZRH to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Miami International Airport (MIA).

Services to LAX and SFO will be daily, while the ZRH – MIA route will be operated two times per day. Furthermore, the airline will continue flights from ZRH to Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG). Nevertheless, SWISS’ US network during the upcoming winter season is displayed below.

Significant difference in connectivity

Data from the aviation analytics company Cirium showed that during the summer season, services from ZRH to the US will peak at 123 weekly flights operated by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and SWISS. In total, the four airlines’ services will amount to 220.7 million weekly one-way available seat kilometers (ASK).

Meanwhile, in November 2024, a few weeks after the scheduled start of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) winter season, weekly frequencies on routes from the Swiss city to the US will go down to 95. The same four airlines will be present on the airport’s departure board, with the weekly frequencies amounting to 160 million weekly one-way ASKs.