LUGANO
 

I note that Swiss currently sell a 4x daily round trips route between their hub in Zurich and Lugano in the far south of Switzerland, operated by Darwin Air, but with an LX flight code, Darwin being just the hired in charter. I note also that Darwin sell and operate a Lugano-Geneva route under their own brand.
I note also that Darwin have substantially rebranded as the regional carrier of an airline based in Abu Dhabi, and about 30% of Darwin's shares are held by the same Abu Dhabi airline

I don't want to get into a debate specifically about Darwin's rebrand but instead keep this about Lugano.

I note that Swiss recently announced the Lugano-Zurich route will end in October 2014, with a comment from Swiss that they were unhappy about using a rival airline to provide their feed - quite understandable IMHO. Is this just a mask for a route that was severely underperforming, or based heavily on genuine commercial branding concerns ? KLM's former Amsterdam-Maastricht route comes to mind here
If this route closes in Oct14, does this airport still have a future with scheduled passenger ops ? I'm thinking in particular about the new Gotthard tunnel to open in 2017.

Finally, I note that Lugano is a very long way by land from Milan, Zurich or Geneva airports - takes ages by land. Have Stobart Air considered a Southend-Lugano route ? Skywork operate a double daily London City-Bern on a Dornier-328 prop. Yes, I know Skywork have seen their ups and downs with their finances. Lugano has a *lot* of private banks, with some very rich people stashing their cash in the city.

If they were Bank "notes" you had you would be rich :O

I can understand Swiss terminating the agreement and have a few colleagues who use that route on occasion but more often than not they prefer to drive the hour or so to get a direct flight from Milan. Don't see why Swiss should heavily subsidize a route for a competitor.

The Gotthard tunnel will be a bit of a game changer on times between ZRH Hb and Lugano (more so once the complimentary Ceneri tunnel, and east lake Zug work is completed), with at least hourly services. However, no plans for direct trains from Kloten, so still a change needed at HB for those arriving into ZRH by air.

Also, in the nearer future, the new TILO link direct from Malpensa via Varese to Lugano will also impact on Lugano airport's future development. Malpensa is also now linked by train every two hours to Cadenazzo, with onward connection to Bellinzona, so Malpensa is becoming a more attractive gateway for the Ticino generally.

Does the steep approach to Lugano discourage niche operators who do not have appropriately certified equipment/crew from testing routes on a trial basis?

Over the course of the weekend, the main Swiss railway company is throwing a party for the opening of the new Gotthard base tunnel - it'll shorten rail journeys between Zurich and Lugano by about 45 mins. The tunnel will come into full use in mid-December.

Central Lugano to central Zurich will fall to under 2 hours, while central Lugano to Zurich airport will come in around 2h20 allowing for a change of trains. Fast trains from Lugano run twice per hour. It should also be noted that central Lugano to Malpensa airport takes about 1 hour by road.

Anyone have an idea as to whether Lugano's main route to ZRH with Swiss/Austrian will survive in its current form ?

"Lugano has a *lot* of private banks, with some very rich people stashing their cash in the city."

Not only their own cash in the case of the Mantegazzas. Apparently they needed my pension too :(

Airport company to be liquidated - news article in Italian
https://www.varesenews.it/2020/04/lu...azione/922468/

Such a shame but sadly inevitable. Could not exist on a couple of biz jet flights a day. Good luck in these uncertain times to all of my former Darwin colleagues.