The Lufthansa Group airline based in Zurich, SWISS, has announced a period of mass change is upon it as it looks to shore up the carrier in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that will see the fleet be reduced by about 15%.
The carrier has already been resizing its workforce via voluntary measures and natural staff turnover that has been underway since 2020, this would also entail a total workforce reduction of around 1,700 full-time positions or over 20 per cent. It could also entail forced dismissals for up to 780 ground and flying personnel. According to the plans released by the airline, around 200 ground personnel, 60 SWISS Technics, 400 cabin personnel and 120 cockpit personnel will also be going.
“I immensely regret that, after so many years of success with such a great team, we now have to consider such a painful step,” says CEO Vranckx. “Unfortunately, the situation remains challenging in the extreme, and continues to demand rigorous cost discipline and efficiency. We are convinced, though, that with the restructuring we envisage, we would emerge from this crisis all the stronger and all the more able to return SWISS to sustainable success in the ‘New Normal’.”
SWISS has now initiated a consultation procedure to find solutions that are as socially responsible as possible, in collaboration with its employees and its social partners. Despite the restructuring measures now taking shape, all the stipulations of the Swiss Confederation in connection with its bank loan guarantees would continue to be met. SWISS will also continue to pursue its premium positioning, maintain its operations from both Zurich and Geneva and ensure that Switzerland remains connected with the world.
Consultation procedure initiated
The consultation procedure that has now been initiated in connection with the envisaged restructuring will see SWISS work with its social partners, its employees and their representatives to find further solutions which could keep the numbers of any forced dismissals required as low as possible and could ensure that any such dismissals were conducted with optimum regard to their social ramifications. This, too, would comply with the provisos under which the Swiss Confederation undertook to guarantee SWISS’s bank loans.
‘Sozialplan’ severance benefits plans are already in place for all SWISS personnel groups except its cockpit personnel. Since the present collective labour agreement for the company’s cockpit personnel includes protection from dismissal, a solution will now need to be found with the pilots’ AEROPERS association at the negotiating table to tackle the structural cockpit staffing surplus.
The consultation procedure and the subsequent evaluation phase are expected to be concluded by mid-June. SWISS will then communicate its corresponding decisions.
Premium positioning remains – even stronger emphasis on sustainability
As The Airline of Switzerland, even after any restructuring and with a smaller aircraft fleet, SWISS will still operate a large part of its previous network and thus continue to perform its mission of meeting the air transport needs of the Swiss economy, the people of Switzerland and the Swiss tourism sector in line with the new demands. To these ends, SWISS also remains fully committed to its two Swiss operating locations of Hub Zurich and Geneva, and will continue to provide direct intercontinental air services that keep Switzerland connected with the world. SWISS’s premium positioning will also remain unchanged: the company will, for instance, continue to offer a First Class on all its long-haul flights.
The resizing and transformation envisaged under the reaCH programme also extend to an even stronger alignment of the SWISS business model to both sustainability considerations and structural change in the working world. This will centre in particular on steadily further modernizing the SWISS aircraft fleet, using sustainable aviation fuel and further developing and refining intermodal transport solutions. By adopting new work models and agile corporate structures, SWISS will also pay due and full regard to the structural changes in the working world; and the company will further continue to exploit all the new possibilities which are opened up by ever-growing digitalization.
1 pre-pandemic as of 2019: 9,500 employees or 7,550 full-time equivalents
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