INDO SWISS - new media

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Face-To-FaceFl yi n g HighON QUALITY & SERVICESwiss International Air Lines, or Swiss in short, is trulyflying high in terms of quality and services offeredonboard. In an interview with Indo-Swiss Business,Jean-Philippe Benoit, General Manager, SwissInternational Air Lines - India, Sri Lanka, Nepal &Bangladesh, talks about the airlines' expansion plans,improved competitiveness in the global market.Excerpts.How did Swiss International Airlines fare in 2007and what are the prospects for 2008?190 million (prior-year period: CHF 101 million).“SWISS is flying at a stable black-ink cruising altitude,”Swiss International Air Lines (Group) raised its earnings says CEO Christoph Franz, commenting on the results.before interest and taxes (EBIT) to CHF 475 million for the “Our clear positioning as a quality airline, our consistentfirst nine months of 2007 (prior-year period: CHF 199 strengthening of our Zurich hub and our gradual andmillion). EBIT for the third-quarter period stood at CHF sustainable expansion of our aircraft fleet and our route190 million (prior year period: CHF 101 million). The network are the foundations of our present success. Weconsolidated total income of SWISS from operating are very satisfied with the way our results are developing,activities for the period from January to September 2007 on both the passenger and the cargo transport front. Androse to CHF 3 590 million (prior-year period: CHF 3 074 together with Lufthansa and within Star Alliance, SWISSmillion). The nine-month EBIT result amounted to CHF now has a strong competitive position, both in475 million (prior-year period: CHF 199 million). In a Switzerland and in Europe.”buoyant economic environment, SWISS maintained itsSwiss International Airlines introduced new servicesencouraging revenue and earnings performance of theto Delhi and Mumbai connecting the USfirst six months throughout the third-quarter period. Totaldestinations via Europe. Are there any additionalincome from operating activities for July to Septemberflights to connect other metros as well in the offing?increased to CHF 1 286 million (prior-year period: CHF 1098 million), and third-quarter EBIT was raised to CHF SWISS presently serves 41 European destinations. Most12INDO-SWISS BUSINESS + JAN-FEB 2008
Face-To-Faceof them are well connected to our two Indian destinations,Mumbai and Delhi. Further three points in Europe will beadded to the network with the introduction of the Summer2008 schedule on March 30. Those are Florence, Sofiaand St-Petersburg, whereas only Florence will offer asame day connection in both directions with our Indiandestinations. Other metros in India was your question?Let us first prove ourselves on the recently introducedDelhi operation, before thinking of further deployments.But yes, we are satisfied with the way Delhi figures havedeveloped in just two months of operation, so optimism iscertainly on the agenda. The entire SWISS team, in Indiabut not in India alone, whether engaged in sales,marketing, airport operations, cargo, and more, aregiving their best to prove the viability of the route. We arevery happy with what was reached so far, we look withconfidence into the future.As a general remark, it can be said that SWISS' policy is tofocus on destinations that have some good share ofnatural traffic between Switzerland and the country ofdestination. So, as you see, we attach importance topotential that is of particular importance for thecustomers on both sides of the route, whether they fly forprofessional, leisurely purpose, or simply visiting friendsand relatives. In actual fact, and with a few exceptions, weobserve a combination of those various traffic types. Asthe international airline of Switzerland, we see it as ourmission to concentrate primarily on markets that haveclearly identified needs to & from Switzerland. Tocomplete the array of destinations and give access tofurther, additional markets, network expansion throughcode-share operations with partners, mainly within STAR-Alliance, is continuously looked at, and wheneversuitable introduced.In combination with a cluster of selected code-sharepartners and in combination with Lufthansa and its hugenetwork, a vast portfolio of connections can be proposedto our customers. The combinability of fares between thetwo carriers enables, for example, to fly SWISS in one'soutbound portion of the journey and Lufthansa on thereturn, or vice versa naturally. On the longhaul sector andwith Lufthansa alone, code-share flights with optimalconnections are offered to US points, to South America(Sao Paulo, and Santiago de Chile), Africa and theMiddle-East (Johannesburg, Douala, Malabo, Yaoundé,Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Tripoli, Cairo), as well as Israel.Needless to say: all routes between Switzerland andGermany are operated on code-share basis.As an international carrier, you are currently flyingto 70 destinations worldwide. We would like to knowwhat are your expansion plans, both short term andlong-term? Could you also touch upon StarAlliance, of which you are a member, and talk aboutits operations?13As outlined above, SWISS is about to introduce Florence,St. Petersburg and Sofia as new European destinationsOn the long-haul front, Shanghai will feature the latestaddition to the intercontinental network starting 9 May2008.SWISS is an intercontinental carrier and has its main hubin Zurich. Other airports served in Switzerland areGeneva, Basel and Lugano, what on a world-wide scalerepresents a middle-size market, dynamic growingmarket with good yields. SWISS wants to identify withthose basics, adopt a policy that corresponds to thoseparameters. This being said, even if we connectSwitzerland with the most important cities in Europe andbeyond, the sheer size of the carrier and of its baseairports and their capture areas, can not be extendedendlessly with a goal to cover the whole world. Whichthen brings enormous advantages in participating in aworld airline alliance, which is in our specific case theSTAR-Alliance, the largest of all. The STAR-Alliance ideallyenables to stretch our arms further, to fundamentallyenlarge the network reach to all corners of the world.Think that the combined routes of the STAR-Alliancecarrier members cover a total of 897 destinations in 160countries. This represents over 17'000 flights each andevery day. Flights on which SWISS clients can collect andredeem miles, or have access to services of partnerairlines such as lounges and other privileged airportfacilities, advantages directly or indirectly visible to thepassenger. The SWISS frequent flyer program, Miles &More, with its size, links to many partners, airlines or else,with its many assets for customers, is one among manytools that has helped us consolidate our position andsuccess on the market place of late.INDO-SWISS BUSINESS + JAN-FEB 2008
Page 1 and 2: www.indoswissbusiness.comINDOSWISSB
Page 3 and 4: EditorialDear Reader,Greetings. In
Page 5 and 6: Cover StoryTravel & overnight stays
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Page 19 and 20: Personalitynationalism without ques
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Page 25 and 26: Allianceamong developed countries a
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