Within the Lufthansa Group, SWISS is by far the most profitable airline, with margins that are 10x better than at Lufthansa. Despite that, it’s interesting to note that the airline is significantly overstaffed, to the point that the company is offering flight attendants money to resign.
SWISS has too many flight attendants, wants cost savings
aeroTELEGRAPH reports how SWISS management has informed the carrier’s roughly 4,500 flight attendants of the need to reduce staffing levels. Long story short, the airline has too many flight attendants due to a combination of engine issues that are keeping (A220 and A320-family) aircraft grounded, plus a shortage of pilots, which creates an imbalance.
According to the memo to flight attendants, “balanced inventory levels will not be achieved in the second half of the year as previously planned, but probably not until 2027.” So the issue isn’t a lack of demand for flights — quite to the contrary, SWISS is wet leasing planes — but instead, lack of ability to actually operate enough flights on SWISS metal.
The other thing is that SWISS is prioritizing trying to save on costs right now, given the incredible uncertainty and headwinds the industry faces, including the conflict involving Iran, and the spike in oil prices. Therefore the airline believes that short term cost savings are needed, and one way to achieve that is through “incentivized measures to reduce excess cabin crew.”
Several months ago, SWISS indicated it was overstaffed by around 400 flight attendants, and I imagine that situation hasn’t improved.
SWISS offering voluntary severance, doesn’t rule out layoffs
How is SWISS addressing its staffing shortages? First, the airline is offering 15,000 CHF (~19,000 USD) to any full-time flight attendant who voluntarily leaves the company by August 2026 at the latest.
If the airline doesn’t see enough volunteers that way, the company will explore other measures. This could include extended unpaid leave during overstaffed months, reduced work hours, extended maternity leave, etc. The goal is to reduce the staff surplus “quickly, effectively, and in a targeted manner.”
If these initiatives aren’t successful, then forced layoffs aren’t off the table either. As the airline explains, “should we fail to achieve this, redundancies cannot be ruled out as a last resort.”
What I find interesting here is that the airline expects to achieve balanced staffing levels by next year, and presumably that would be achieved through the fleet continuing to grow, the natural attrition from flight attendants quitting or retiring, continuing to hire pilots, etc.
So you’d almost think the airline would first seek opportunities to offer unpaid leave, since those flight attendants could be needed again next year. But I suppose the logic is that generally keeping employees more junior is ideal in terms of pay scales, given how flight attendant pay works (junior flight attendants are paid less than senior flight attendants).
Bottom line
SWISS has hundreds of flight attendants too many, due primarily to a combination of grounded aircraft and not having enough pilots. This is dragging on longer than expected, and with the global uncertainty right now, the company is making it a priority to reduce costs. So the airline is offering 15,000 CHF to any flight attendant who voluntarily leaves the company.
If that doesn’t result in enough volunteers, the airline will consider other measures, which could even include layoffs. Quite honestly, I imagine that SWISS will be far from the only airline looking to reduce headcount in the coming weeks and months, given what’s going on.
What do you make of this SWISS situation?
