2025: SWISS Achieves Operating Result of 502 Million Swiss Francs

For Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS), 2025 was a year of ambivalence. Jens Fehlinger, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SWISS, summarizes: "2025 was a year of contrasts for SWISS. We invested heavily in our future with the A350, the new cabin, and SWISS Senses. At the same time, high competitive pressure, rising costs, and lack of resources hindered our growth. Now we need to take targeted countermeasures."

SWISS generated an operating result of 502.2 million Swiss francs in the 2025 financial year. This was 26.6 percent below the previous year's result (2024: 683.8 million francs). Operating revenues reached 5.50 billion Swiss francs, declining by 2.6 percent compared to the previous year (2024: 5.64 billion francs). CEO Fehlinger emphasizes: "The decline in results clearly shows: We must reduce our costs and become more efficient."

Dennis Weber, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of SWISS, explains: "2025 was a challenging year from a market perspective. High competitive pressure, volatile demand, as well as rising charges and maintenance costs have left their mark on our results. The cargo business also fell short of the previous year’s level due to being disproportionately affected by geopolitical uncertainties. However, favorable fuel prices supported our results."

Additionally, limited resources also impacted the results. Specifically, SWISS lacked both available engines and crews. As a result, aircraft were grounded for longer than planned or could not be utilized to the intended extent. This created a productivity gap, preventing the airline from fully implementing fleet growth and expanding capacities as planned.

Passenger numbers at previous year’s level
Overall, SWISS transported around 18.1 million passengers in the 2025 financial year. This corresponds to an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the previous year. The number of flights also increased by 0.6 percent to over 143,000. The available seat kilometers (ASK) rose by 1.5 percent, while the revenue passenger kilometers (RPK) increased by 0.5 percent. The average load factor of SWISS flights was 83.3 percent, 0.8 percentage points below the previous year’s figure.

Fourth quarter weaker than the previous year
In the fourth quarter of 2025, SWISS achieved an operating result of 91.0 million Swiss francs (previous year's period: 178.8 million francs), a decrease of 49.1 percent. Operating revenues fell by 5.2 percent during this period to 1.33 billion Swiss francs (Q4 2024: 1.40 billion francs).

Here, too, the ongoing market pressure and increased costs had a significant effect, while lower fuel prices helped mitigate the pressure on results.

Punctuality and flight schedule stability improved
Despite the challenges, SWISS was able to further improve its operational performance. Punctuality increased by an average of 4.1 percentage points to 69.3 percent. The stability of the flight schedule improved by nearly one percentage point to 98.0 percent. These advances are the result of targeted measures and the great commitment of SWISS employees.

Structural measures to improve cost-efficiency
To address the challenging cost development, SWISS implemented targeted structural measures in 2025. This includes a company-wide cost-saving program. The goal is to deploy means more specifically, improve cross-functional and cross-departmental collaboration, and create lean structures. SWISS also aims to further digitalize and automate processes and consistently use new technologies.

CEO Fehlinger explains: "The environment remains challenging in the short term. It is all the more important to streamline our structures and become sustainably more efficient. An airline that is shrinking instead of growing loses competitiveness. We are determined to stabilize our position. Our goal is clear: SWISS should return to profitable growth. We are laying the groundwork for 2026."

Fehlinger adds: "Flying should remain affordable in the future – because a well-connected and financially accessible aviation industry is important for Switzerland. It connects our country with the world, strengthens the economic location, secures jobs, and supports tourism and the export industry. To ensure this, we need competitive locations, close collaboration with our system partners, and a readiness to implement necessary improvements together."

Continuous investments in customer experience
Despite financial challenges, SWISS remains committed to enhancing the travel experience for its guests. In the coming years, among other things, the refurbishment of the Airbus A330 fleet is planned, which will also be equipped with the new "SWISS Senses" cabin.

"We have to manage resources without abandoning our course of innovation. This is a demanding balancing act – but it is crucial for our future viability," CEO Fehlinger concludes.

Editor's note: Image rights belong to the respective publisher. Image rights: Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.