Swiss regional carrier SkyWork Airlines has signalled its intention to take a leading role in the country’s scheduled airline sector, with a focus on improving connectivity at Bern.
Despite being new to scheduled operations, SkyWork has almost 30 years of experience, having originally been formed in Bern in 1983 as a flight training company by Alex Gribi. In 1989, SkyWork acquired its first Cessna Citation business jet and moved into the private jet business as an air taxi and charter provider. Over subsequent years it expanded its charter programme, introducing a Dornier 328 turboprop into its fleet for passenger charters in April 2004. It acquired a single Bombardier Dash 8Q-400 in April 2008 to expand in this area and regularly flew Swiss tourists to the Mediterranean islands, Greece and Tunisia for tour companies such as Aartal Reisen, Kuoni and Xenotours.
However, as the airline’s CEO, Tomislav Lang, acknowledges: “One of the major problems we faced was that while the summer season was doing well, in the winter, the aircraft spent most of the time on the ground.”
Lang, a Croatian national, joined the company in July 2008, having previously worked at Stuttgart Airport and with low-cost operator Germanwings. He says that the past two and a half years have been “a real challenge”, as the airline has modified its business model to safeguard its future. He was appointed CEO in October 2010, and alongside chief financial officer, Hans-Peter Rothlisberger, has masterminded the airline’s expansion into the scheduled market.
Starting scheduled flights
It began scheduled operations in October 2009, with flights between Bern and Rotterdam, and services to Barcelona followed in March 2010. Both routes performed well, he says, attracting a loyal customer base. However, as the global economic crisis hit, things became tough. “I am not going to lie; we have had to work hard to keep the airline alive,” he says.
“We were quite lucky that our new owner was impressed with the product we were offering and simply walked into our office after a couple of flights and asked if there was any opportunity for him to invest in the business. That was seven months ago. One month later we were building our new corporate strategy.”
The launch of a new corporate brand was a key part of the new scheduled business plan, which was introduced on October 20, 2010 and was followed two months later by the inauguration of scheduled flights from Bern to Berlin and Hamburg.
This was in addition to its seasonal leisure connections to Palma de Mallorca, Ibiza, Elba and Djerba. “We had to make sure that we grew in a sustainable manner, plus we didn’t have the capacity to expand the network further,” says Lang. This has been facilitated by the acquisition of a second Dornier 328 in March.
For the longer term, the company is looking at regional jets – including the Embraer E-Jet family, Bombardier CSeries and the MRJ Regional Jet from Mitsubishi.
Bern-Belp Airport
SkyWork is now the largest operator at Bern-Belp Airport, which is conveniently located for the Swiss Alps, providing short transfer times to some of Switzerland’s best ski resorts, including Interlaken, Adelboden, Grindelwald, Château-d’Oex, Kandersteg, Lenk, Mürren and Wengen.
“Bern Airport has never seen an expansion on this scale. We are bringing regular, year-round routes, plus seasonal summer destinations. We are very pleased to be making a significant contribution to the development of Bern and offer our clients a real alternative to Basel and Zurich,” says Lang.
At the start of the summer schedules, SkyWork expanded its network to eight destinations, with a new six-times weekly flight to London City. This has been upgraded from a 31-seat Dornier 328 to a Dash 8-Q400.
The new service, the only direct flight between London’s premier business airport and Switzerland’s capital, means that visitors headed for the Bernese Oberland no longer have to travel to Bern via Basel, Zurich or Geneva. Plus, the recent suspension of London City–Basel services means travellers destined for Basel can take SkyWork Airlines’ service and be in Switzerland’s second city within an hour by car.
Increasing frequencies
The airline is also planning to increase frequencies on existing routes, offering 11 flights per week to Berlin (up from six), six to Hamburg (from four) and a daily service to Barcelona (from six a week). “Our bookings are getting better and better,” said Lang, “and we are looking at average loads of between 54% and 60%, which is what we need on the Dornier and Dash 8.”
Fleet expansion
To support the next stage of its expansion this winter, SkyWork has already agreed deals to acquire two more Dash 8-Q400s. The first of these is already undergoing pre-delivery configuration work in Canada, and should be delivered by May. A third should be introduced in October.
“We are also finalising the purchase of a third Dornier 328 turboprop and hope to have this deal firmed up in the coming few weeks to allow delivery this year,” says Lang. “This will take the SkyWork fleet to six aircraft by the end of the year.”
These additional aircraft will be used to add a second weekday rotation on the London City route from September 5. New links to Milan Linate, Rome and Vienna will be added the same day, while Amsterdam, Belgrade, Budapest and Madrid will follow in October. The introduction of the Amsterdam link will mark the closure of the carrier’s flight to Rotterdam, its first scheduled destination.
The past year has been one of growth for SkyWork, but what will summer 2012 bring? “At this stage I honestly don’t know,” says Lang. However, he does expect there to be “a few new routes”, although acknowledges that some consolidation will be required. “We could look at Brussels, that fits our business model, but I think I need to be locked in a room for a few hours in September to look at the options and the data we have available.”
For the short-term the airline’s focus will remain on Bern, but Lang believes there is potential to serve other Swiss markets, highlighting Lugano as one option. “We could look at basing one aircraft there in the future but that is a little way ahead,” he concludes.
This article features in Routes News 2011 Issue 2
