Swiss will contract Helvetic Airways to operate ERJ 190s on some routes currently served by Avro RJ100s. The lease, due to start late this year, will allow Swiss to start retiring its older RJ100s. Swiss has been forced to keep its 20 RJ100s in service by delays in the delivery of the Bombardier CS100s it has ordered to replace them. Swiss ordered 30 CS100s in March 2009. Deliveries were to have begun in 2014, but have been repeatedly delayed. Entry into service is now scheduled for the second half of 2015, but engine problems encountered during flight testing suggest that further delays are likely.
Recent news items on Swiss:
- Ex-Swiss Avro RJ100 being prepared for Air Libya (2018-06-10)
- Last Swiss Avro RJ100 departs Zürich (2017-08-24)
- Swiss ends Avro RJ100 operations (2017-08-15)
- Swiss is down to a single Avro RJ100 (2017-07-05)
- Third Avro RJ100 delivered to Aerovías DAP (2017-04-29)