Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

SWISS pilots concerned over safety of Israel flights  

A worker in a high visibility jacket on the runway at Tel Aviv airport walks alongside the white turbine engine of a SWISS plane with the red logo on the side, which in white says ‘SWISS Swiss International Air Lines’ with a white plus on the red background
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) is changing its procedures to ensure that all flights can operate as planned KEYSTONE

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) pilots and flight attendants are increasingly cancelling their flights to Israel due to safety concerns.  

The airline is now changing its procedures to ensure that all flights can operate as planned. 

In response to an enquiry from the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA on Thursday, SWISS announced that it was taking steps to counteract this, as other crew members have to stand in for cancellations and may then be assigned more often than average on the same routes.  

Many cancellations at short notice have led to an increased planning effort. From Saturday, staff will have to cancel at least seven days before a flight to Israel, according to the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Wednesday. 

More

There are no concrete figures on how many crew members have cancelled their Israel flights. “On some flights no one has cancelled, on others one or more crew members have cancelled,” said a SWISS spokesperson. 

Previously, SWISS crew members flew back to Zurich from Tel Aviv on the same day. From May, the airline will fly twice a day again, as it did before the war. Due to flight and duty time limitations, which provide for extended rest periods at night, crew members will also have to spend the night in Tel Aviv, the statement continued. 

SWISS said it understood the concerns of some crew members. Specialists have examined the situation and concluded that it was stable and safe. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kp 

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Swiss Armed Forces have around 147,000 personnel

More

Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit

This content was published on The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.

Read more: Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
Two men charged by the MPC with money laundering

More

Two Swiss men charged with money laundering

This content was published on One million francs, 34 million euros and around 830 kilos of gold: this is the fortune that two Swiss nationals are accused of having moved across borders for at least four years.

Read more: Two Swiss men charged with money laundering
Richemont reports lower first-half results

More

Richemont reports lower first-half results

This content was published on Geneva-based luxury goods group Richemont reported a downturn in performance for the first half of its 2024/25 financial year. Both sales and profit declined.

Read more: Richemont reports lower first-half results

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR