Summary
- SWISS plans eight roundtrips on the Airbus A340 between Zurich and Geneva in August.
- It will temporarily overtake Kam Air from Kabul to Mazar-i-Sharif as the world’s shortest bookable scheduled A340 service.
- Of the non-bookable routes, Edelweiss’ San Jose-Liberia, in Costa Rica, served triangularly from Zurich, is even shorter.
SWISS again plans A340-300 flights between its Zurich hub and Geneva. The very short domestic route was due to see its Airbus widebodies between May and October, but they were removed. Now they are back, although only in August. Given the short time between now and then, they will likely operate.
The A340 from Zurich to Geneva
Based on the Great Circle, the airport pair covers just 125 nautical miles (231 km). SWISS will operate eight roundtrip flights on the low-capacity, high-premium, 215-seat A340 in August, at least partly because of peak-time demand. While there are eight first-class seats, they are, of course, not bookable. Perhaps some business passengers will be able to use them.
According to Cirium schedules data, SWISS has used widebodies (A330-200s, A330-300s, A340-300s, and 777-300ERs) on the route in 12 of the past 20 years.
As high-speed trains often take around 2h 45m, it is unsurprising that the vast majority of passengers connect to another flight. Booking data suggests that about eight in 10 passengers connected elsewhere last year. However, over 70,000 passengers were still point-to-point.
Photo: Michael Derrer Fuchs | Shutterstock
The airport pair will see the A340 on Tuesdays and Sundays, with the first flight on August 4 and the last on August 27. The schedule is as follows:
- Tuesdays: Zurich-Geneva (LX2802, 07:30-08:30); Geneva-Zurich (LX2807, 10:00-10:55)
- Sundays: Zurich-Geneva (LX2802, 07:25-08:30); Geneva-Zurich (LX2807, 10:00-10:55)
Image: GCMap
From the A220-100 to the A340-300
As a snapshot of activity, let’s consider Sunday, August 4, the first day in 2024 that the A340 will be used to Geneva. That day, SWISS will have seven departures on the route.
Three flights will be on its smallest equipment, the 125-seat A220-100, for which it was the launch customer; two on the 145-seat A220-300; one on the 180-seat A320ceo; and one on the 215-seat A340. It is a shame that the 777-300ER isn’t being used: if it were, SWISS’s smallest- and largest-capacity equipment would be deployed.
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On August 4, Geneva-bound flights will leave Zurich as follows:
- 07:25: A340-300
- 09:10: A220-300
- 13:00: A320ceo
- 16:45: A220-300
- 18:00: A220-100
- 21:00: A220-100
- 22:35: A220-100
Photo: SWISS
Booking data shows approximately 340,000 Geneva passengers (466 passengers daily each way) connected to another flight in Zurich last year. Geneva-Italy was the most popular country market, followed by the US, Germany, Spain, France, India, Thailand, Sweden, the UK, and Greece.
At the airport level origin-destination, Geneva-Berlin ranked first, followed by Florence, Singapore, Venice, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Tokyo Narita, Stockholm Arlanda, Milan Malpensa, and Miami.
Will you be flying the A340 on the domestic route? Let us know in the comments section.