Swiss International Air Lines is to offer a new daily non-stop service between Zurich and Beijing from February 2012. SWISS will also be increasing its capacity over the North Atlantic from summer of next year, deploying its own (bigger) aircraft on the Zurich-Newark route. And SWISS is further expanding its services from Geneva, adding Nice to the network and increasing frequencies to Madrid, Moscow and London (City) Airport.

SWISS is to introduce daily non-stop flights between Zurich and Beijing. The new service to China’s capital, which will commence on 11 February 2012, marks a further expansion in SWISS’s service of the growing Chinese market, a development that began with the addition of Shanghai to the network in May 2008.

“I am delighted that, as the airline of Switzerland, we can meet the needs of Swiss business and further expand our non-stop services to and from the growing Chinese market,” says SWISS CEO Harry Hohmeister. “At the same time, we are also seeing a growing demand for tourist travel in both directions.”

Beijing and Shanghai are the two most important business and trading centres in China. SWISS also serves a third Chinese destination, Hong Kong. The new route marks a return to Beijing for SWISS: the airline previously served China’s capital until June 2003.

SWISS will also be modifying arrangements on its Zurich-Newark route, which is currently operated by an all-business-class PrivatAir Boeing 737. From 31 March 2012 onwards, SWISS will use its own long-haul aircraft on the route with a three-class cabin configuration and substantially-increased seating capacity. The operation will also be expanded to daily service.