The SWISS Administrative Board has approved a new organisational structure for its Operations and Sales Divisions. It enables both the operational and commercial Managing Directors to participate more directly in the decisions affecting their respective Divisions. 

In addition, the Board decided that, in future, the charter business will operate under the name Swiss Sun with Airbus A320s flown by the OC2 pilot corps.

The SWISS Administrative Board, at its meeting on January 20, approved the following proposals submitted by the Management:

Back in August 2002, the Technical and Flight Operations Divisions were more closely linked, following the appointment of Karel Ledeboer as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Now, the two staff posts of Security and Safety are also to be directly subordinate to Ledeboer, because their areas of responsibility expand beyond those of pure flight operations.

Under the new arrangements, the responsible managers for Maintenance, Ground Handling and Training will report directly to the COO. Within the Technical branch, new departments are being set up for Line Maintenance and Contracts, in order to increase the efficiency of the internal technical services of the regional fleet in Basel and of the external partners.

With the arrival of William L. Meaney as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), the Strategy & Network, Sales & Marketing, Product & Services and Cargo Divisions, which are all subordinate to him, will be redefined. The objective is to improve the coordination within the organisation and to bring it closer to the clients. The changes principally affect the former Sales & Marketing Division. The Sales Managers for the Swiss and overseas markets are now directly subordinated to the CCO.
By means of these changes, the further expansion of SWISS can be focussed and accelerated over the next two years.

At its meeting, the Board approved the reorganisation of the SWISS charter business. Also approved was the detailed Business Plan. This foresees, thanks to the synergies amongst the pilots and a more favourable cost structure, the ability to effectively compete in the difficult charter field.

As announced, the charter business will be performed by four Airbus A320s under the designation Swiss Sun. These are more economical to operate, less damaging to the environment and considerably more comfortable for the charter passengers than the MD-83s which have been in service until now. (The last aircraft of this type will be withdrawn in 2004).

The Board has decided that the four new Airbus A320s will be flown by the OC2 pilot corps, which already flies 25 aircraft of this type. This means that the seasonal Summer peak can be more cost-effectively catered for by the strong force of Airbus pilots (the A320 family and also the A330), than if it was operated as a separate seasonal Airbus operation by OC1, which would have had to be set up with only four aircraft.

The two pilot corps unions are now invited to jointly develop a career plan in order to enable the seamless transfer from OC1 to OC2 of the approximately 40 pilots required for the charter Airbus fleet

SWISS will also use surplus capacity from the remainder of the fleet for charter contracts Suitable aircraft will be offered, according to the requirements of the clients and the availability of aircraft from the scheduled fleet.

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