Swiss International Air Lines’ turnover halved due to coronavirus

The number of passengers fell by 64% to 3.2 million. © Keystone / Christian Beutler

The economic repercussions of the coronavirus have caused turnover at SWISS to fall by 55% in the first half of 2020. 

With a turnover of CHF1.17 billion ($1.28 billion) between January and the end of June, the carrier suffered an operating loss of CHF266.4 million in the first half of the year, following an operating profit of CHF245.3 million a year earlier. At the same time, the number of passengers fell by 64% to 3.2 million, the company announced on Thursday.  

The airline was already hit hard by the spread of Covid-19 and travel restrictions in the first quarter of 2020, when it posted an operating loss of CHF84.1 million, following an operating profit of CHF48.3 million a year earlier. 

The situation is not likely to improve any time soon. On Wednesday, CEO Thomas Klühr warned that the company was still losing a massive amount of money and a return to profitable flights was likely to take time. 

The carrier has significantly reduced its losses since the end of the containment measures: currently the company is losing less than CHF1 million per day, compared with CHF3 million per day at the height of the crisis, said Klühr in an interview with Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten. 

Against this background, the regular flight plan will take longer to resume than expected, but Klühr is “optimistic” that the situation will improve by the summer of 2021. 

On Thursday, Swiss International Air Lines’ parent company Lufthansa reported a net loss of €3.6 billion for the first six months of the year. In the second half of the year, the German group again expects a negative operating result despite an uptake in business.