Switzerland’s flag carrier Swiss International Air Lines have reported to be carrying out modifications on 4 of their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Previously, Swiss had disclosed plans to remove all economy seats on three of their Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to increase capacity of the aircraft. Now they are further advancing and modifying additional 4 777 aircraft for cargo-only operations.
Since May 12, the airline has already expanded its cargo-only flights destination portfolio by adding Hong Kong, New York JFK and Mumbai to its cargo-only route network.
Earlier, the carrier operated flights to Beijing, Chicago, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Toronto. The airline expects to see the first flight to Shenzhen, China take off on May 22 with 10 cargo flights scheduled.
Edelweiss, a subsidiary of Swiss, has also been working to improve freight movement from and to Switzerland by using their fleet of Airbus A330s and A340s. Currently Edelweiss operates solely cargo flights from its hub in Zurich to Johannesburg, South Africa. Swiss plans to resume regular passenger services in June which will see airline take over cargo flown by Edelweiss into its own aircraft.
Swiss reports having carried out more than 200 cargo-only flights since March, 2020 with weight of the freight transported reaching 4,000 metric tons combined. Another 160 cargo flights are expected to take off up until the end of June.