Is Switzerland still a first class airline, Mr. Vranckx?

In the midst of the pandemic, Dieter Vranckx (49) took over at Swiss in early 2021. Since his inauguration, underground booking numbers, planes landing and canceled flights have caused red numbers and frustration among customers. One crisis ensues: massive layoffs, bonuses have become commonplace. Then GAV got into conflict with ground and air personnel. The pilots’ strike was averted at the last minute this week. But now the cabin crew is asking for more salary from the Belgians.

Mr. Vranckx, are you a masochist?
Dieter Vranckx: no Crises have always been a part of the aviation industry.

Your position as CEO of Switzerland must be utter agony.
For the last two years, I haven’t regretted a single moment that I’ve been back. Switzerland has always been very important to me. I’ve spent two-thirds of my entire career at Swissair and Swiss. Putting this airline back on a financial footing and creating hope for our employees and customers is something close to my heart.

So far Switzerland has suffered losses almost exclusively at your command, cutting 1,700 full-time jobs and reducing its fleet by 15 percent. Are you doing something right?
The losses in 2020 and 2021 are due to the global pandemic – every other airline in the world felt like we did. But let me be clear: the goal was not to cut things off or reduce the fleet. The aim was to keep Switzerland vibrant and competitive for the future, using restructuring as a tool.

You made a management mistake by laying off too many locker room staff in the winter of 2021. This took revenge – hundreds of flights had to be canceled in the summer.
Looking back, we can say that with what we know today, we could have made decisions differently. But: We also had a different picture of our future back then. It was necessary to assume that difficult Corona times would last even longer.

When you realized the mistake and wanted to bring back the 300 fired flight attendants, many turned you down. Instead, they had to seek out and train new staff – which cost time and money.
Nearly half of the cabin crew, with over 200 colleagues, returned. And this summer we weren’t as bad as you think. We operated 99 percent of our flights in July, and even 99.4 percent in August, according to plan. These are better numbers from 2019 – so it’s like pre-pandemic! In a comparison with our competitors in Europe, we are doing very well in terms of flight cancellations.

You’re internally popular with staff, and your humanity in particular is positively emphasized – not naturally for a CEO in crisis. Does it bother you when you have to cut things off?
It pains me to lose an employee’s job. I would rather keep everyone on board. But I also have a responsibility to all other employees still on board. My top priority is to ensure that the company has a stable future. But the important thing for me at this point is that we can pay the entire Swiss workforce a total of millions this year.

Is your airline competitive again?
Yes, Switzerland has caught the curve. Corona loan fully repaid. The first nine months of this year were profitable. We are also expecting a big profit for the whole year. In terms of personnel, the situation looks equally good: We will have hired 800 new employees for the cabin this year. And in 2023 an additional 1,000 flight attendants and 80 pilots will be added.

Cabin crew demands a starting salary of 4,000 francs instead of 3,400 francs and more flexible working. Will you reach a deal this year?
This is my big goal. We want to ensure stability not only operationally but also internally for 2023. We have already reached an agreement with the ground and cockpit personnel. We are now trying to reach an agreement with the cabin crew by the end of the year. I realize that these types of negotiations are difficult, long and difficult – this has been demonstrated with the pilots recently, but the goal should be to find a balance between the needs of the staff and the company.

A pilot earns many times more than a flight attendant. Up to 211,000 francs per year – bonuses go on top of that. The threat of a strike was completely unfounded.
Financial disparities in our staffing groups are nothing new. We always try to prevent a strike. Fortunately, people in Switzerland are willing to compromise.

You are being very diplomatic. The pilots gambled off public sympathy, but you still gave them 4.3 percent more money. Bad negotiation?
Bargain for a long time – that’s better! A solution that is good for both parties. We met in the middle. You know: I am not forgetful and I am grateful to our pilots: They – like all other employees – played a very important role in the Corona crisis. China flights are a good example. Flight attendants as well as pilots were not allowed to leave the hotel, had to wear protective gear, etc. The pilot study lost some of its appeal during the pandemic.

How much did the deal with the pilots cost you?
The Aeropers pilots association asked for CHF 200 million, but we refused and offered CHF 60 million. We finally came to an agreement somewhere in the middle. I don’t want to say anything about the exact amount.

Switzerland’s image has also suffered in the last two years. Anyway, you’re flying under a false flag – a German airline belonging to the Lufthansa group, camouflaged with a Swiss cross on the tail fin.
Swiss is at home at Zurich-Kloten Airport. We pay tax in Switzerland. More than 80 percent of our employees have red passports. Our mission as Switzerland is to connect Switzerland to the world. We also play an important role in the logistics chain. All this has to do with Switzerland – not Lufthansa in Germany. We are proud to be part of a strong aviation group like the Lufthansa Group. This brings great advantages. There is hardly an airline that is successful on its own anymore.

Who decides on Switzerland: here in Zurich or at headquarters in Frankfurt?
Basically, we decide where to go in Switzerland. We have a board of directors in Zurich that approves these decisions. Of course, we also inform the Lufthansa Group. And of course, Frankfurt would have the last word if something didn’t suit them. But since I was head of Switzerland, this has never happened.

Switzerland wants to be a premium airline. He hasn’t been able to live up to that claim for the last two and a half years, okay?
Since the corona pandemic, we have not yet reached 100 percent where we want to be. But today we are more “premium” than a year ago. We had a problem with our customer service – waiting times were too long. Now we have made great progress. The average response time today is 90 seconds. And we are planning a big service and quality attack for the next year.

What does this look like?
We will continue to invest billions of dollars in our fleet. Over the next few years, we will be replacing the older generations with 17 new Airbus A320neos – these are cutting-edge aircraft. Later, we will expand our Premium Economy product, which is available on all Boeing 777s, to our other Airbus A340 long-range aircraft. In business class, we will continue to introduce new menus with the best Swiss chefs every quarter. In the cabin, service will be further enhanced with 1,800 new flight attendants.

Speaking of long-distance routes: are things going again?
Mostly. America is in great demand – things in the Atlantic are doing extraordinarily well. But Asia is slowly opening up. China is giving me some stomach ache. It’s hard to say when things will really start again. The expectation is in the direction of 2023 summer. But we must be surprised.

In 2022 it just got a little more expensive to fly. Will plane tickets continue to increase?
The market is very dynamic. But I expect plane tickets to become more expensive in the medium and long term. On the one hand, because we, as Swiss, have invested a lot of money in our new fleet. On the other hand, because we always wanted to fly more sustainably. We will spend a lot of money on this by 2030 – on sustainable fuel, for example. It’s very expensive. As a company, we undertake some of the additional costs, and we will try to pass the rest on to the customers. But in the end, prices are determined in the market.

You are optimistic for the coming years. You seem comfortable as a crisis CEO. Now things are going up and up, are you about to take off?
Just because I’ve been through many crises doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate quieter times. (Laughs). I don’t just want to be a part of the comeback, I also want to be a part of the success story.