Swiss International Air Lines next year will begin offering an all-business class product between Newark and Zurich, replacing mainline service currently operating on the route.
The airline will become the second international commercial carrier to tempt business travelers with a premium flying experience from Newark to business centers in Europe, following a similar launch by Lufthansa German Airlines two years ago.
Swiss hopes to capitalize on increasing business traffic between northern New Jersey and Manhattan and Switzerland, areas with large corporate bases of financial, pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms. Multinational companies with offices in the area, and listed as Swiss clients in the latest edition of the Business Travel News Corporate Travel 100, include Credit Suisse First Boston and Hoffmann-La Roche.
The six weekly Swiss flights will be operated by PrivatAir and launched Jan. 15 with a Boeing Business Jet configured with 56 lie-flat seats. The airline said customers will benefit from shorter boarding times and premium inflight service.
"This is something we have been studying for over a year and is driven by the quality of product and market need," said Steve Diggelmann, Swiss general manager for North America, citing premium class load factors between Newark and Zurich as high as 95 percent last month. "New York and northern New Jersey is a unique area with a large number of Swiss companies. Not every market would lend itself to such a product."
Swiss already has seen interest from key area customers and will integrate business jet services into existing corporate contracts.
"The CSFB travel policy mandates business class travel to Europe with the exception of overnight flights in some instances. If the Newark service on Swiss has flat beds at business class prices, there will be a great deal of interest for those travelers who live in New Jersey and can take advantage of Newark airport," said Lynn Frank, CSFB vice president of global travel.
Swiss also anticipates codeshare cooperation on the new flights with antitrust-immunized partner American Airlines
(BTNonline, Nov. 25, 2002)."The all-business class concept has proven to be an outstanding success since we launched our first regular transatlantic routes in 2002 and 2003, in collaboration with Lufthansa," said Greg Thomas, CEO of PrivatAir Group in Geneva, Switzerland. "This new partnership with Swiss is a logical step forward."
With the introduction of business jet service, Swiss concurrently will withdraw mainline service between Newark and Zurich, which operates with much larger Airbus A330 jets.
"The market for us keeps changing dramatically," Diggelmann said, referring to a 30 percent reduction in the Swiss network during the past year. "The opportunities for traffic from Newark to points beyond Switzerland are not there anymore."
Swiss, however, will maintain scheduled mainline service between New York JFK and both Geneva and Zurich aboard Airbus A330 jets.
Diggelmann acknowledged that Swiss "looked with great interest" at the development of Lufthansa's all-business class operations across the Atlantic. Also furnished by PrivatAir, Lufthansa's service operates between Newark and Düsseldorf, Newark and Munich and Chicago and Düsseldorf
(BTN, March 24, 2003).Executives last winter hinted the operation could be expanded to additional markets
(BTNonline, Dec. 12, 2003) and a Lufthansa spokesperson last week added that new North American routes are under consideration.
"We've seen steady growth and a seat load factor up to 80 percent on the Chicago-Düsseldorf route," said Peter Fellinger, Lufthansa Midwest regional sales manager. "Chicago business travelers are accepting it more and more as a positive alternative. In addition, connectivity from Düsseldorf to other major business centers has improved significantly since the start of the service last spring."
"Although the travel industry has generally seen an increase in business travel in recent months, we expect that cost containment and a cautious approach to expense management will continue," said CSFB's Frank. "Therefore, airlines that offer flat beds and sleeper seats in business class will be best-positioned moving forward."
No other U.S. or foreign carriers currently offer a scheduled, all-business class service for transatlantic business travelers, though several have toyed with the idea.
Air France, meanwhile, last month expanded its Dedicate program, which provides direct, scheduled service from Paris to remote locations, tailored for corporate travelers from global energy firms
(BTN, Feb. 9). New destinations include Doha, Qatar, Kuwait and Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Air France expects to add as many as 10 new destinations to the program in 2005.