The lifting of quarantine requirements in Spain and Portugal has resulted in a substantial increase in travel demand, with SWISS seeing bookings increase up to fivefold within a week. Therefore, the carrier will increase service from Zurich to Spain and Portugal.
On Wednesday (March 17, 2021), Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) announced that they will increase their flight offerings to Spain and Portugal for the Easter travel season, after seeing a substantial increase in bookings. The surge in bookings, up to fivefold in a single week, follows the lifting of pandemic-related quarantine requirements in Spain and Portugal. SWISS will therefore increase flight offerings from Zurich to both countries, with additional flights and the deployment of larger aircraft.
In Wednesday’s announcement, SWISS’ Chief Commercial Officer, Tamur Goudarzi Pour, said,
“As the examples of Spain and Portugal clearly show, lifting quarantine requirements and adopting reliable travel rules leads directly to tangible booking growth. Many people currently have a strong desire to make up for the travel they have recently missed, especially to the sun and the beach. And we’ve responded to this by expanding our SWISS services for the coming Easter travel season.”
As part of the Lufthansa Group, SWISS continues work to help digitize and standardize the document checks to ensure guests comply with destination entry requirements. The digitization of travel documents will also enable a faster, contactless check-in experience. Commenting on the pressing need for standardized digital travel documents, Tamur Goudarzi Pour added,
“Further structural expansion of our flight offerings requires the adoption of internationally recognized standardized and digitalized test and vaccination records.”
In the coming weeks, SWISS will add flights to Palma de Mallorca, Málaga, Barcelona, Alicante and Valencia, resulting in 43 weekly flights to Spain during the week of March 29th, compared to 34, as originally planned. During the week of April 5th, the carrier will offer 59 flights versus an original plan of 48. SWISS will also increase flights to Porto and Lisbon in Portugal. Some flights will also be upgraded to 219 Airbus A321s, the largest short-haul aircraft in the airline’s fleet.
SWISS customers will continue to enjoy fully flexible rebooking options in all fare categories for. Tickets issued on or before May 31, 2021 qualify for unlimited free rebooking, as well as one additional complimentary change thereafter. If a flight is canceled, customers can rebook free of charge or receive a ticket refund.
Source: SWISS