Switzerland鈥檚 national airline has announced it will launch a new flight route from Bristol Airport.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) will begin operating a direct service between the South West transport hub and Zurich from February 2023.

SWISS, which recently added Bologna, Nantes, Sofia and Vilnius to its network, said its winter timetable had been expanded to 93 destinations - though with fewer frequencies - operating at some 80% of its 2019 levels. The carrier will also further expand its Scandinavia services from Geneva.

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Chief commercial officer Tamur Goudarzi Pour said: 鈥淕iven this summer鈥檚 difficult operating situation throughout Europe鈥檚 air transport sector, we are focusing on further stabilising our SWISS services in the coming winter schedules.

鈥淚n doing so, we鈥檒l be offering our customers a range of flights that鈥檚 actually more extensive than it was before the pandemic. In Europe in particular we鈥檙e providing an attractive choice of destinations for the colder season.

鈥淎t the same time, though, we鈥檝e been conservative in our planning and have reduced our flight programme by a number of frequencies, to ensure that we can keep our schedules as stable as possible.鈥

Bristol Airport鈥檚 commercial director Rupert Lawrie, added: 鈥淭his is a major milestone in our business recovery in welcoming a new scheduled airline to Bristol Airport and shows consumer confidence is returning after the Covid impact the aviation industry has suffered in recent years. We look forward to working with SWISS and developing this important route in the future.鈥