Looking at SBB website it’s CHF 101 each way as I don’t have a half price card.
Flying Geneva to Zurich to Malta & return CHF 227.40 with full size cabin bag & 23Kg luggage.
Zurich to Malta with luggage return was CHF 184.20
CHF202 v CHF43.20, why would anyone take the train?
Fog definitely worse in Zurich than Geneva!
You can’t buy a Swiss ticket for that price. One way tickets range from 369-410 over the next week for a one way ticket depending on day/flight.
What you are comparing is the difference in price between Geneva-Malta and Zurich Malta.
I booked on 13 December flying out today & returning on Monday. It was a larger plane than normal, I do this route until April when EasyJet starts direct flights. It’s always cheaper than the train if I book with Swiss who code share with KM Airmalta
Swiss are basically subsidizing your ZRH-GVA flight to get you to Malta assuming there isn’t a direct flight. I’m sure they could also issue you a train ticket instead of a GVA-ZRH flight
Flight was 35 minutes
SWISS prices Geneva - Malta independently of Zurich-Malta. They need to appraise the prices available with their competition in Geneva and set their price according to what they believe they can sell a ticket for.
Sometimes it’s an option but usually more expensive than flying. Since the more expensive flight is not Swiss it’s odd they would subsidise
There is no competition, I could go via Munich or Rome but longer & more expensive
And you had to be at the airport at least one hour before, more if checking a bag, and you gave to get to the airport …
At GVA 45 minutes is fine especially with fast track security, my wife took a separate flight earlier so I spent an hour at IKEA.
The great advantage is you can land at ZH & get the flight to GVA 40 minutes later, tight if they do a go around !
I’ve read somewhere that the Geneva-Zurich air link is a loss leader. It exists to increase the sales of tickets for long flights from both airports. This price difference shows indeed how much Swiss is willing to lose in the short flight in order to keep the long flights full.
I got curious and checked the fees charged by Geneva airport and Zurich airport.
This flight implies 2 times as transfer passenger in Zurich:
Thus, 2 * (8 +7) = 30 CHF.
No charges for arriving passenger at Geneva. Airport charges are only departing passengers:
That’s 27.9. The total is 30+27.90 = 57.9 CHF. So, Swiss is already losing money only with passenger fees for the airports. Add operational costs (crew, few, maintenance, landing fee, parking fee and other fees) and it’s even a greater loss.
In the end, it’s a choice between losing a lot (empty seats), or losing a bit less by selling you an under priced ticket. They chose to lose a bit less.
You missed the point, my onward flight is KM Airmalta not Swiss
Ahhh, that little flag in the winglet!
Well yes, but …
GVA-ZRH is not operated to serve the local market. That’s what the train is for. It’s to feed the longhaul and other connecting flights out of Zurich. What isn’t important is the revenue per flight but the total revenue per passenger.
Taxes and fees are generally not included in the price but paid separately by the passenger.
Price includes taxes for all 4 flights
That doesn’t mean that Swiss doesn’t share the revenue, because they do. There are lots of different code-sharing arrangements and the most basic has LX buying a block of seats for a fixed price and selling tickets and keeping the difference.
Flights can often be cheaper than planes as air travel has a lot of government subsidies.
That was the case at one time throughout Europe but it’s no longer true. In the EU governments are forbidden from giving state aid (aka subsidies) to their airlines. Swiss receives no subsidies from the Swiss or Cantonal governments.
Airlines are expected to be profitable and if they aren’t governments no longer bail them out.
The price depends a lot on how far out you book. Two months out (your Dec 13 booking for today) costs 52 full price.
