Suspended in March due to the pandemic, the Swiss Geneva-New York line will not be restored this winter. Some elected officials in Geneva are worried about the future of this bond, which has a very symbolic value for their canton.
Given the health situation that remains unfavorable to travel, the direct line that connects the Geneva runway daily to New York’s John-F.-Kennedy International Airport will remain suspended during the winter schedule, which runs from the end of October to the end of March.
Swiss’s decision did not go unnoticed at the bottom of the lake, because this link, which connects the UN world headquarters in New York to its European headquarters at the Palais des Nations, has a very symbolic value for international Geneva. It is also the last long-haul line that Swissair, upon its sudden departure from Geneva in 1996, had withheld from Cointrin (read framed).
“Fear that Swiss will abandon this line”
Its restart will therefore wait, which has provoked the reaction of several Genevan elected officials, especially since the Confederation has come to the company’s aid. Pdc national councilor Vincent Maitre does not rule out speaking in Bern on this issue. Deputy Bertrand Buchs, his party colleague, has already presented a text to the Grand Council in Geneva. He challenges the Council of State in a written question presented on Monday.
“Some lines have been reintroduced in the winter timetable, especially from Zurich, but we will not reintroduce the line from Geneva to New York. This is a very bad sign for me. It is a symbolic line. I am afraid that Swiss will completely abandon this destination from Geneva” , worried Bertrand Buchs in La Matinale de la RTS on Tuesday.
Abandonment not relevant according to Swiss
“This type of decision is very worrying, especially because of its symbolic significance for Geneva,” admits PDC state councilor Serge Dal Busco, minister in charge of the airport. However, “in consideration of the health and economic context and the completely unprecedented situation that the airports are experiencing, it must be considered that this is a temporary decision”, he tempers, recalling that the activities in terms of conferences and congresses have drastically decreased.
Swiss for its part specifies that an abandonment of the Geneva-New York line does not make news. As for the restart, the company explains that no decision has yet been made beyond the winter program. It “continues to constantly analyze the evolution of the situation”.
Due to the crisis, there are currently no direct flights from Cointrin to New York or even to the United States, as the American company United has also suspended its connections to New York (Newark) and Washington until further notice.
Guillaume Rey/vic
