SWISS appoints new Head of Cabin Crew

Alexander Arafa, who is currently in charge of Sales & Marketing Europe, has been appointed SWISS’s new Head of Cabin Crew. He succeeds Andrea Koch, who is stepping down at her own request after four years in the post to take a personal break. Arafa will assume his new duties on April 14.

Alexander Arafa, who is 48 years old, brings extensive international airline expertise and experience to his new position: he has already held leading executive functions in sales, marketing and ground services with a number of airlines. He served as SWISS Vice President Product Development & Management from 2002 to 2004, with responsibility for developing the SWISS product throughout the value-adding chain. And he has been leading SWISS’s Sales & Marketing Europe with great success since June 2004.

“I am delighted at Alexander’s appointment,” says SWISS Chief Operating Officer Gaudenz Ambühl, to whom Arafa will report. “He has a vast knowledge of every facet of the airline business; and this, along with his wide experience in dealing with our customers, makes him an ideal choice to take over this vital management function.”

Cabin crew corps continues to expand

SWISS’s corporate restructuring of the past few years has given the airline scope to invest in its fleet and product and expand its route network. The fleet expansion alone is adding some 600 new positions to the SWISS cabin crew corps – about ten per cent of the company’s total payroll. The workforce expansion is proceeding well: SWISS awarded its 500th new flight attendant’s diploma a few weeks ago.