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Swiss World Airways is rallying for a Sept. 10 launch with service that breaks new ground in airline marketing and operations. Its frequent flyer program is a scratch-off ticket that instantly rewards passengers for flying on the new carrier; its service, competing against top-rated Swissair, will be pay-as-you-go; and its fleet eventually will be all 737-700ERs for trans-Atlantic flights.
But things are far from clear sailing for the Swiss startup. For starters, its application to begin service to the U.S. still is pending at the DOT, so with only two weeks to go before its anticipated start date, flights still are not advertised or listed in any reservations system. Also, although the U.S. and Switzerland have an open skies agreement, Swiss law prohibits two Swiss airlines from competing on the same route. As a result, Swiss World will not be allowed to serve the Basel-Newark route.
Finally, the carrier has hired New York-based Tool Box as its advertising agency, but the U.S. company has no prior experience with airlines. Its marketing message will focus on its lower costs, but whether or not it can hold its own against Swissair with that message remains to be seen.
Swiss World, based in Geneva, plans to tap into what it sees as a "small, high-yield market with a lot of demand for a lot of different destinations," said Daniel Schenk, SWA's director of marketing. Its first route will be Geneva-Newark, which it will fly with a 767-200ER configured into 10 first class ("Premiere"),...