SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

TRAVEL NEWS

Swiss airlines makes Covid vaccination compulsory for pilots and cabin crew

All cabin crew - including pilots and stewards - flying on Swiss airlines must get vaccinated for Covid after the flagship carrier updated its rules.

Swiss airlines makes Covid vaccination compulsory for pilots and cabin crew
A Swiss plane parked at Zurich airport. Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP

Switzerland’s flagship carrier, Swiss airlines, will require all of its cabin crew and pilots to be vaccinated against Covid. 

The airline announced that it will introduce this rule from November 15th, “because of the regulations in force in various countries around the world, which increasingly require a compulsory vaccine for crews”.

The airline said it would become too difficult to organise crews on the basis of ground rules in respective countries. 

UPDATED: Who can travel to Switzerland right now?

“The different handling of vaccinated and unvaccinated crew members and the associated high complexity of operational planning would mean that orderly flight operations could no longer be ensured in the long term,” reads the press release. 

Hong Kong is the first destination in the Swiss network to require proof of vaccination for crews from certain countries, including for flights from Switzerland.

“It is important that we take measures now that allow us to preserve our global network while fulfilling our duty to protect our employees”, said the company’s CEO Dieter Vranckx.

Airlines have been one of the hardest hit industries as a result of the Covid pandemic. 

The decision has been understood by airline crews, who indicated they would have preferred the requirement remain voluntary. 

“This is a decision that is lawful and anchored in the GAV,” says Sandrine Nikolic-Fuss to Swiss news outlet 20 Minutes

“We would have liked the vaccination to remain voluntary, but we can understand that it would not have been possible in many countries because of its applicability.”

While some pilots have indicated they would have preferred to be consulted on the issue, the pilot union was similarly understanding. 

UPDATED: Can you be fired in Switzerland if you refuse the Covid-19 vaccine?

“We would have liked to have talked to us beforehand about the consequences for employees who do not want or cannot be vaccinated. You don’t know what to expect now,” said Henning Hoffmann, managing director of the Aeropers pilots’ association. 

While we feel vaccination “should remain voluntary in principle, but the decision is understandable in view of the restrictions in many countries.”

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

TRAIN TRAVEL

Why the ‘strategic’ Geneva to Lyon train line needs drastic improvement

Commuters on trains between Geneva and Lyon (and vice versa) have had to face a number of problems over the years. But there is a new move to drastically improve the service.

Why the 'strategic' Geneva to Lyon train line needs drastic improvement

The train services circulating several times a day between Switzerland’s second-largest city and Lyon in France are used by thousands of commuters on both sides of the border.

But these trains, operated by France’s national railway company SNCF, as well as the country’s regional rail network,TER, are subpar, according to Swiss Green Party MP Delphine Klopfenstein Broggini, who has brought this issue to Switzerland’s Federal Council.

She has sounded the alarm over the fact that many of the trains circulating between these two major cities are in poor condition, and she says the rail infrastructure on the French side of the border is dilapidated and in need of urgent upgrading.

Not only are these trains uncomfortable for passengers, Klopfenstein Broggini argues, but the outdated infrastructure also means that additional trains can’t be put into circulation.

“This link is strategic for Switzerland, as it is its gateway to southwest Europe,” Klopfenstein Broggini pointed out, so improvements on this 112-km-long line “must therefore become a priority” for the government.

What exactly is she pushing for?

“My primary goal is that there should be more, but less obsolete, direct trains running on this line,” the MP said.

“Today, there are around thirty trains which connect Zurich to Stuttgart every day. But on the Geneva to Lyon line, there are only around ten. There should be twice as many, which would alleviate the [overcrowding] situation a lot.”

But that’s not all: she also wants Swiss trains to be put into service on this line for more efficiency.

“I am also asking if it would be possible for Bern to invest in rolling stock on this line, so as to ensure its maintenance, or even its operation, in collaboration with France,” she added.

The SBB operates trains from Geneva to Milan, so Swiss trains could also run to Lyon, Klopfenstein Broggini said.

“This would be in Switzerland’s interest,” she added.

And there would also be another benefit in a more efficient train connecting Geneva with Lyon, according to the MP.

If the infrastructure were in better shape and the trains more modern, the two-hour journey between the two cities could be shortened.

That would make the commute more appealing to some of the 220,000 cross-border workers who commute to their jobs in Geneva from France by car.

“The goal is to transfer some of these motorists from road to rail,” the MP said.

The next step is for the Federal Council to discuss Klopfenstein Broggini’s proposal.

SHOW COMMENTS