London City Airport welcomes resumption of SWISS’ services to Zurich
- SWISS to operate twice-weekly service from LCY to Zurich, with flights resuming from today (Wednesday 12th May)
- Key business and leisure connection restored with Switzerland’s largest city ahead of the restart of international travel from the UK
London, UK, 2021-May-14 — /Travel PR News/ — London City Airport has welcomed the restoration of connections to Zurich (ZRH), with SWISS to resume flying to Switzerland’s largest city from today (Wednesday 12th May).
SWISS will operate two rotations per week to Zurich initially, although their schedule will increase in line with the anticipated surges in demand for leisure and business travel as travel restrictions are relaxed in the UK and Europe this summer.
Commenting on the resumption of SWISS flights, London City Airport’s Head of Aviation, Anne Doyere, said:
“We are delighted that SWISS has returned to the airport to restore an important business and leisure connection between London City and Zurich.
Zürich is a key centre for international business, finance and tourism, so this is very positive news for our passengers who can once again enjoy safe and speedy journeys to Zurich direct from the heart of London.”
As the UK’s vaccination programme continues and international travel restrictions are relaxed further in the coming weeks, it is expected that more passengers will return to flying from London to destinations across Europe.
SWISS will gradually scale up their routes and schedules from London City ahead of the autumn as leisure and business traffic picks up. The Swiss national carrier expects to restore its route from LCY to Geneva (GVA) in August.
Tamur Goudarzi Pour, Chief Commercial Officer, Swiss International Air Lines, said:
“We are very pleased to resume connections from Zurich and Geneva to London City. Its proximity to the city center and its convenient size with short distances make London City Airport equally attractive for our business and leisure travelers.”
British tourists visiting Zurich can explore the historic old town, its beautiful parks and green spaces and take a boat trip on Lake Zurich. For those seeking nature and adventure, Zurich is the perfect base for visiting the mountains, lakes and valleys of the breathtaking Swiss Alps.
This positive news comes as COVID-19-related travel restrictions start to ease with the restart of international travel to and from the UK on Monday 17th May, with the introduction of a new traffic light system that will determine the testing and quarantine arrangements that passengers will need to follow.
Switzerland has initially been placed in the Amber category, which means that travellers from England will need to take a pre-departure test and PCR tests on days 2 and 8 on their return, and self-isolate at home for 10 days unless exempt. The UK Government will review this categorisation every three weeks, meaning that continued progress with the vaccination programmes in the UK and Switzerland could see quarantine-free travel introduced between the two countries in June.
Passengers can pre-book a variety of COVID-19 tests for UK and international markets at London City Airport’s in-terminal testing facility. The airport has also launched a new portal to help customers understand the latest Covid-19 data and the testing and quarantine requirements of their destination, simplifying the booking experience and enabling passengers to make informed travel choices.
Research has shown there is significant pent-up demand for international travel this summer. Polling of the British public conducted for the airport in March found that 72% of frequent flyers want to return to travel when restrictions are lifted, while 71% said that travel should be allowed to and from countries that have COVID-19 under control. The airport also surveyed 500 UK business leaders in autumn 2020, finding that two thirds consider air travel as vital for the future success of their business.
Zurich was the airport’s fourth most popular route in 2019, with 429,019 passengers flying between London’s most central airport and Switzerland’s largest city.
Notes to Editors:
- SWISS flight LX464 is scheduled to land at London City Airport at 17:45 on Wednesday 12th May, with return flight LX465 departing for Zurich at 18:20.
- London City will offer flights to 35 destinations this summer across the UK and Europe.
- The airport’s new passenger travel portal can be accessed here: https://travel.londoncityairport.com
- Passengers can search and book flights to all LCY destinations worldwide at https://londoncityairport.netflights.com/
- Further information on the airport’s in-terminal testing facility can be found here: https://www.londoncityairport.com/test
- Destinations currently served by the airport include Belfast City, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, and Dusseldorf with British Airways CityFlyer (BACF), Amsterdam with KLM, Vilnius with LOT Polish Airlines, Dundee with Loganair and Luxembourg with LuxAir.
- The airport will welcome new destinations this summer, with British Airways announcing the start of routes to Jersey, Guernsey and Gibraltar in June, as well as Split and San Sebastian, starting in June and July respectively.
- 2,014 members of the public were surveyed online by Yonder Data Solutions between 26-28th February.
- Survation polled 515 UK business leaders for London City Airport, with the fieldwork undertaken in September 2020.
- London City Airport was awarded with the Global Health Accreditation Standard by the Airports Council International (ACI) in October 2020.
- The airport was recognised as one of the best airports in Europe for customer experience in the 2020 Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards.
Contact:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7646 0000
media@londoncityairport.com
Source: London City Airport
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