SWISS wants to reduce reliance on third-party airlines

Swiss International Airlines’ new Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach wants to reduce the number of leased flights from Helvetic Airways and Air Baltic. This practice, referred to in technical jargon as 'wet leasing', currently accounts for around a third of SWISS summer flights in Europe. "We currently have a large number of wet lease aircraft in service," said the 57-year-old German executive this week at a press meeting at SWISS headquarters in Kloten. The reason for this recourse to other...