Switzerland Tourism celebrates upcoming YYZ-ZRH flight
It may have been the day of the solar eclipse, but last night the focus was on another development set to take to the skies soon. On May 10, Swiss International Air Lines will launch direct service from Toronto to Zurich.
“We’re going to fly five times a week, seasonal. We’re going to start on the tenth of May until October,” Brendan Shashoua, the outgoing head of sales Canada for Lufthansa Group, told PressToday. “The exciting thing is we’re bringing back First Class to Toronto so the configuration is First Class, Business Class and Economy.”
The flag carrier of Switzerland, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, will offer daily flights with the exception of Mondays and Wednesdays on an Airbus A330. Ready for takeoff, representatives from SWISS and Switzerland Tourism held a suitcase party in Toronto in anticipation of the inaugural flight. Shashoua noted that load factors from the Canadian market are “really good, super strong.”
“We are more than happy,” he added. “It’s actually going better than some of the existing routes so it’s very, very promising. We hope when that continues to be able to eventually have it daily, to go to year-long service. We’re here to stay.”
The new eastbound service will leave Toronto at 16:35 and arrive in Zurich at 06:30 (local time) the following day. The westbound SWISS service will depart from Zurich at 09:55 and arrive in Toronto at 13:00.
SWISS promotions
The event also served as a chance to connect with Christina Meakin, who was recently promoted to the position of Head of Sales Canada for the Lufthansa Group. Meakin has relocated to Canada to take on the role and most recently served as Director Sales Northern Germany for Lufthansa Group.
Notably, Shashoua was recently appointed as the Senior Director Sales Southeast Asia and Pacific and will be relocating to Singapore.
“We are super proud to have the first female head of sales Canada for the Lufthansa Group, which is big news,” Shashoua said.
Ready for take off
The evening culminated with a raffle draw for a seven-day trip for two in business class on SWISS, as well as giveaways for Victorinox luggage and Accidentally Wes Anderson books with Laura Fairweather, media relations/project manager Canada and Central USA for Switzerland Tourism, announcing that a suitcase party isn’t complete without tickets to the destination.
“Canadians love Switzerland and we love taking Canadians to Switzerland,” she added.
Meanwhile, Oliver Weibel, the director, Canada, for Switzerland Tourism, noted that the annual Switzerland Travel Experience for the travel trade is slated to take place in Toronto towards the end of May.
