Swiss Low-Cost Carrier

No, there’s feck all LCC wise in Switzerland (at the main airports, anyway…) apart from easyjet.

However…

the first LCC service started operations from BSL at the start of June, unfortunately, it’s a once-a-week service to Ibiza, so it’s not much use for people wanting weekends away or anything (it’s operated by Germania Express, with a F100).
But there has been increased speculation about easyjet at BSL, particularly with Swiss almost giving up on the place (apart from the London City/Hamburg/Milan flights being suspended that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, several other destinations are to be reduced, including Manchester, meaning that LX will only have about half as many movements at BSL as they did this time last year)

I was reading an article in the Business section of the Basler Zeitung last Thursday, where they speculated about easyjet moving it’s northern Swiss operations from ZRH to BSL, as

a) BSL have a landing fee half that of ZRH’s for European flights
b) what with the no fly zone for landing aircraft at ZRH over Southern Germany, ZRH is turning into a bottle neck
c) turnaround times at ZRH are becoming increasingly difficult to guarantee, mainly because of b)
d) BSL, just 100km from ZRH would still have a similar catchment area
e) easyjet have just signed a contract with a Basel based coach company.

Odette Airways currently only operates a single MD-83 on ethnic charters between Zurich and Pristina, Kosovo. However, it will start low-cost operations with several Fokker 100 aircraft in cooperation with Germania at the end of October.

ODETTE was the one i was thinking of they operate md-80’s, also i think SWISS’s service is great!

InterSky is actually a descendant of Rheintalflug, we started operations some 10 days before Swisswings was forced to give up operations.

Thanks.
There’s a new charter startup there called Odette. I rarely travel on Swiss, the service is horrendous.

Hallo Thomas und willkommen!

Is your company a descendant of the former Swisswings? The route network looks very similar.

Duesseldwarf.

Welcome onboard thomas – looks like the forums have something to discuss here!!!

I actually work for a low-cost carrier having its homebase in Berne, Switzerland, although we are an Austrian company our homebase is in Switzerland, so I’d call InterSky an Austro-Swiss low-cost carrier. We operate two Dash 8-300s on scheduled flights from Berne to Berlin Tempelhof, Paris CDG and Vienna with fares starting at 39 CHF one-way. We also operate a seasonal scheduled flight between Munich and Elba Island and lots of charter flights (from Berne to Elba Island, Figari, Palma de Mallorca, Sarajevo, Tortoli and Tuzla and from Altenrhein to Elba Island). Check www.intersky.biz for more information or drop me an e-mail.

Swiss Sun is the charter affiliate of Swiss International they are not low cost. Swiss Express has moved to a low cost operation on European routes to cut costs because of its current situation. In many cases it proves cheaper than Easyjet.

Switzerland does not really have a true low cost carrier. The country really is quite undeserved by the LCC sector though Zurich’s prices etc are not appealing and with Easyjet at Geneva you would have problems with another carrier. I think Basle (or Mulhouse) would be perfect for a new low cost carrier.

Swiss Sun are charter Aren’t they?

Swiss Sun is the Holiday airline arm of Swiss, but Im not sure whether or not they are low cost?

Their name is SWISS, and they are all but low cost!

To go to switzerlang (at least from Germany), you have the option of Germanwings, flying into Zürich

Theres another airline down there that bears the swiss flag also, but im brain dead as to the name right now, not sure whether its low cost, might be charter