London City Airport welcomes the return of SWISS services

London City Airport (LCY) today welcomed the resumption of SWISS services to Zurich (ZRH), the route to Switzerland’s largest city previously being one of the gateway’s most popular prior to the global pandemic.

SWISS will operate two rotations per week to Zurich initially, although their schedule will increase in line with the anticipated surges in demand for leisure and business travel as travel restrictions are relaxed in the UK and Europe this summer.

LCY’s head of aviation, Anne Doyere, said: “We are delighted that SWISS has returned to the airport to restore an important business and leisure connection between London City and Zurich.

“Zürich is a key centre for international business, finance and tourism, so this is very positive news for our passengers who can once again enjoy safe and speedy journeys to Zurich direct from the heart of London.”

As the UK’s vaccination programme continues and international travel restrictions are relaxed further in the coming weeks, it is expected that more passengers will return to flying from London to destinations across Europe.

SWISS will gradually scale up their routes and schedules from London City ahead of the autumn as leisure and business traffic picks up. The Swiss national carrier expects to restore its route from LCY to Geneva (GVA) in August.

Tamur Goudarzi Pour, chief commercial officer, Swiss International Air Lines, said: “We are very pleased to resume connections from Zurich and Geneva to London City.

“Its proximity to the city centre and its convenient size with short distances make London City Airport equally attractive for our business and leisure travellers.”

This positive news comes as COVID-19-related travel restrictions start to ease with the restart of international travel to and from the UK on Monday, May 17, with the introduction of a new traffic light system that will determine the testing and quarantine arrangements that passengers will need to follow.

Switzerland has initially been placed in the Amber category, which means that travellers from England will need to take a pre-departure test and PCR tests on days 2 and 8 on their return, and self-isolate at home for 10 days unless exempt.

The UK government will review this categorisation every three weeks, meaning that continued progress with the vaccination programmes in the UK and Switzerland could see quarantine-free travel introduced between the two countries in June.

Passengers can pre-book a variety of COVID-19 tests for UK and international markets at LCY’s in-terminal testing facility.

The airport has also launched a new portal to help customers understand the latest COVID-19 data and the testing and quarantine requirements of their destination, simplifying the booking experience and enabling passengers to make informed travel choices.