Zurich Airport, July 11, 2003: Swiss has concretised their network reductions which they announced at the end of June. They informed which destinations will be approached in the coming winter timetable. Today's announcement corresponds largely to Unique's (Flughafen Zürich AG) own traffic planning for the airport of Zurich.In expectation of the reduced Swiss winter timetable, Unique already led discussions with numerous other airlines. The publication of Swiss's winter timetable is an important factor for other airlines regarding their network planning. In the interest of customers and thus for the Swiss economy, discussions with them can be deepened now.
In the winter timetable, Swiss offers now seventy instead of over ninety destinations which are reachable directly from Zurich. Some of the destinations which will be no longer served by Swiss are already approached directly by other airlines today. Should the need arise; they will serve further destinations, which Swiss will not approach any longer. Unique will fight to keep the offer of direct connections for Switzerland as high as possible. Depending on the interest of other airlines in direct connections to Zurich, the number of destinations which are connected directly with Zurich, will be reduced by approx. 5 to 12 percent. In the coming winter timetable there will be still over one hundred destinations which are directly connected with Zurich. For the year 2003 Unique expects approx. 16.5 to 16.8 million passengers at the airport of Zurich. This corresponds to Unique's traffic planning and the early derived cost reduction measures which are already realised to a large extent.