Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has reported a favorable operating result (Adjusted EBIT) of CHF 684 million for 2024, its second-highest annual earnings in its corporate history, following the record CHF 718 million of 2023. Total revenues for the year amounted to a record CHF 5.6 billion (2023: CHF 5.3 billion), a further improvement of some six per cent on the also-record prior-year revenue result. SWISS’s profitability remains solid, too. Adjusted EBIT margin for the year amounted to 12.1 per cent, 1.4 percentage points down on its prior-year level.
SWISS’s operating result for the fourth quarter of 2024 amounted to CHF 179 million (Q4 2023: CHF 103 million), a 74-per-cent improvement on the prior-year period. Total fourth-quarter revenues were raised seven per cent year-on-year to CHF 1.4 billion (Q4 2023: CHF 1.3 billion).
“As our 2024 results clearly confirm, our company is strong, stable and financially sound,” says SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger. “This highly favorable operating result is the product of a superb teamwork performance by all our employees. And to them all I extend my deepest thanks.”
“Our strong earnings benefit our customers, too,” CEO Fehlinger continues. “We’ll be investing some CHF 1 billion a year over the next five years in providing them with a top-notch air travel experience, both in the air and on the ground. We’ll be further raising the stability and the punctuality of our flight operations. And we will continue to invest in sustainability, too.”
“We’ll be doing all of this from a position of strength,” Fehlinger emphasizes. “Only a healthy company can invest in the future: in innovation, in product excellence and in greater sustainability. This is precisely what we are undertaking, for our customers and for our employees. And in doing so, we are underlining our aspiration of being a premium air carrier that connects Switzerland with the world and thereby makes a vital contribution to its home country’s competitive credentials.”
A continued focus on both revenues and costs
SWISS has reported favorable financial results for 2024. The company is strong and stable. The slight year-on-year earnings decline can be attributed to multiple factors. The general increase in market capacity is putting growing pressure on the company’s yields; longer aircraft downtimes in the short-haul fleet (owing primarily to the limited availability of certain engine spares) lowered production efficiency; and SWISS is being more broadly exposed to high cost pressures. Had it not been for various non-recurring items which impacted positively on revenue development, the company would have recorded a greater year-on-year earnings decline.
“As our 2024 results show, people want to travel,” says SWISS CFO Dennis Weber. “Demand is high, especially in our premium travel classes, with both SWISS Business and SWISS Premium Economy presently proving particularly popular. Tourist travel is booming, too, while business travel activity remained stable at its prior-year volumes.”
“Our Adjusted EBIT margin for the year of 12.1 per cent is at a respectable level,” CFO Weber continues. “But we must continue to invest if we are to retain our leading position in our highly competitive markets. And the funds for these investments have first to be earned. So given the persisting cost pressures, we must keep working on our overall efficiency.”
Efforts continue to ensure stable and punctual flight operations
SWISS operated over nine per cent more flights in 2024 than it had the previous year, and also transported more passengers overall. Despite continuing shortages of air traffic control resources, airspace closures in response to geopolitical developments and weather-related operational restrictions, the company raised its average punctuality throughout the year to 65 per cent, a year-on-year improvement of a good four percentage points. The trend is thus moving in the right direction; but, as the peak traffic months (especially in summer) showed, SWISS still has scope for improvement on the punctuality front.
“Our various actions to raise our punctuality and reduce irregularities – such as closer collaborations with our ground handling partner Swissport at our Zurich hub – are showing their first successes,” says SWISS Chief Operating Officer Oliver Buchhofer. “At the same time, we still had too many disruptions over the course of last year. And we feel the effects of these: not only in our costs, but also (and above all) in the feedback from our customers.”
“They’re right to tell us, too – our guests should expect nothing less than outstanding SWISS service,” COO Buchhofer continues. “For that, though, all the basics need to be in place: punctuality, reliability, and prompt and dependable baggage delivery. We continue to work on all these aspects of our service product, and we want to further improve in them all.”
“We also aim to achieve these enhancements through our own powers and influence wherever we can do so,” Buchhofer further explains. “So we’re investing, for instance, in creating a new team of ‘turnaround managers’ who should help improve the coordination and thereby expedite the ground handling at our Zurich hub. But we’re also keen to take the actions required together with our system partners such as Flughafen Zürich and Skyguide, Switzerland’s air navigation services provider, where we need to join forces even more closely.”
One key highlight of the present year – and indeed in the history of the company – will be the arrival this summer of the first SWISS Airbus A350. The aircraft is now undergoing final assembly at the manufacturer’s Toulouse factory, and will soon be taking off for its first pre-delivery flights. The preparations at SWISS ahead of its arrival are in full swing, with pilots, cabin crew members and technical personnel all undergoing the requisite specialist training.
SWISS Senses: product enhancements being increasingly felt
SWISS further expanded its route network in the course of 2024. Washington DC, Toronto and Seoul were all added to the range of long-haul destinations; and the selection of services from and to Geneva was further enlarged, particularly through the provision of additional frequencies on the Athens, Marrakech, Valencia and Málaga routes. So the year was clearly one of growth at SWISS in both network and service frequency terms. The prime emphasis in 2025 is on stabilizing this network and on further quality improvements.
The new ‘SWISS Senses’ concept will be gradually adopted for SWISS long-haul services in the course of the present year. SWISS Senses offers a range of product and service features that are designed to appeal to all the customer’s senses – eyes, ears, nose, taste and touch. The innovations here extend to a totally newly devised cabin design with modern seating in all four travel classes, along with new product items and new service concepts.
In concrete terms, SWISS Senses will offer an expanded range of inflight food and beverages in all classes of travel, along with new bedding items and reusable tableware in SWISS Economy. Plus, on the aromatic front, the new ‘Alpine Valley’ SWISS signature scent, which will be available in various forms such as hand lotion and refresher towels. SWISS is investing in its short-haul aircraft fleet, too, with programs to provide at-seat USB power sockets on all its Airbus A320s and A321s and inflight internet service already well under way.
“2025 is shaping up to be a landmark year for our company,” says SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach. “We’re making substantial investments that will deliver a host of innovations for our customers. We are aware that they have had a long wait for the improvements to our product which are urgently required. But these improvements should now be increasingly seen and felt from this week onwards. While we will still have to wait a little longer for our new long-haul seats, every flight with our new Airbus A350 will provide some 250 travelers with all the many benefits of our new air travel experience. And all these investments will be tangibly felt by our guests, and will help bring us a major further step forward.”
Swiss WorldCargo strengthens its market presence
Airfreight remains a central plank of Switzerland’s export activities: half of all Swiss exports (by value) leave the country by plane. And its air cargo business continued to play a key role at SWISS in 2024.
The company’s Swiss WorldCargo division enlarged its service offer. And the expansion of the SWISS route network – to Seoul in particular – enabled new cargo markets to be served. This in turn helped further strengthen Switzerland’s connections with the world trade network.
All in all, Swiss WorldCargo transported some 305,000 tonnes of airfreight last year, a 14-per-cent increase on 2023. The division’s firm focus on high-value consignments continued to reap rewards, and 2024 saw special cargo – such as precious metals, banknotes and pharmaceutical products – rise to account for over 50 per cent of all Swiss WorldCargo business for the year.
More production and more passengers carried
SWISS transported around 18 million passengers in 2024, some 9.2 per cent more than it had the previous year. Total flights operated were raised 9.1 per cent to over 142,000. Systemwide seat load factor for the year amounted to 84.1 per cent, a slight 0.4-percentage-point decline from 2023. Total production was increased by 10.1 per cent in available seat-kilometer terms, while total traffic volume, measured in revenue passenger-kilometers, was 9.6 per cent up on its prior-year level.
Tags: Jens Fehlinger, SWISS
