CARDIFF AIRPORT

New Route of the Day (5 December 2021): SWISS between Zurich and Beirut

Posted on | Latest Route News +

ZRH - BEY

SWISS chose Sunday 5 December as the launch date for its new route to Beirut from its main base in Zurich. The 2,720-kilometre service will operate 2-weekly (Thursdays and Sundays) throughout the winter period, using the airline’s A220-300s. The route is primarily aimed at the VFR market. Competition comes from Chair Airlines, which also offers 2-weekly service on Mondays and Thursdays, but using a mix of A319s and A320s.

What they said

Tamur Goudarzi Pour, CCO of SWISS, said: “As The Airline of Switzerland, we strive to offer our customers a route network that is tailored as closely as possible to their air travel needs. We are proud that, for the first time in its history, SWISS will now connect the capital of Lebanon directly with Switzerland and our Zurich hub. We hope that our new services will also help the city of Beirut in its reconstruction. And we look forward to bringing more people and more cultures together.”

Istanbul is top European route from Beirut

Looking at Cirium Data and Analytics schedule information for December shows that there are 139 weekly flights between Europe and Beirut. Of these 60 are spread across Istanbul’s two airports with Middle East Airlines (18-weekly to Istanbul IST), Pegasus Airlines (14-weekly to Istanbul SAW) and Turkish Airlines (28-weekly to Istanbul IST) all serving the market.

Middle East Airlines currently serves 12 destinations in Europe. Apart from Istanbul it also flies to Athens, Brussels BRU, Copenhagen, Düsseldorf (launched in July), Frankfurt, Geneva, Larnaca, London LHR, Madrid, Milan MXP and Paris CDG. Other carriers (apart from SWISS) serving Beirut from Europe in December are:

  • Aegean Airlines: 2-weekly from Athens
  • Aeroflot: weekly from Moscow SVO
  • Air France: 7-weekly from Paris CDG
  • Eurowings: 2-weekly from Düsseldorf and weekly from Berlin and Hamburg
  • Lufthansa: 7-weekly from Frankfurt
  • Pegasus Airlines: 14-weekly from Istanbul SAW
  • SundAir: 3-weekly from Berlin and Düsseldorf, weekly from Bremen
  • TAROM: 2-weekly from Bucharest
  • Transavia: 2-weekly from Amsterdam and Paris ORY
  • Turkish Airlines: 28-weekly from Istanbul IST and 4-weekly from Adana