The first new scheduled link from Europe to Tampa for more than 15 years will take place in May 2012 when Swiss carrier Edelweiss Air inaugurates a weekly service to Tampa International Airport from Zurich. The airline currently offers a weekly service to Orlando, a route it only launched in July this year, but confirmed earlier this month that it believed the Tampa Bay area could generate more high-paying business travellers and has therefore taken the decision to move the service next summer. “We have decided to fully concentrate our efforts in Florida on Tampa,” confirmed Michael Trestl, Business Development Manager, Edelweiss Air.
This is a decision that has also been helped by strong marketing support with the local US media reporting that Tampa International Airport is giving Edelweiss $500,000 in cash and landing fee and counter rental waivers over two years; Visit St Petersburg/Clearwater is contributing $140,000 to promote the flights in Switzerland over the same period; Tampa Bay & Co, Hillsborough County's quasi-public tourism agency, will invest $60,000; while The Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce has offered free event sponsorships and event promotions valued at an estimated $175,000. Elsewhere, The Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp has reportedly scripted a two-year business recruitment plan and will help Edelweiss pay to carry it out; a package valued at upwards of $300,000.
The flight will operate on a weekly basis from May 25, 2012, increasing to twice weekly from July 3, but reverting back to a single weekly rotation for Winter 2012/2013. Edelweiss Air will use an Airbus A330-300 on the route with seating for 36 Business Class and 296 Economy passengers. The annual economic impact of the route to the Tampa Bay Region is estimated to be $31.6 million and the creation of 265 new jobs.
Visit St Petersburg/Clearwater Executive Director, D T Minich, Executive Director said he was “thrilled to see Edelweiss” introduce flights to the area, during a press event to mark the new service. “When we made the pitch to Edelweiss, we showed them that we have been actively marketing our region’s award-wining beaches and world-class art and culture in the Swiss market for more than 20 years,” he said. Working with Joe Lopano [Chief Executive Officer, Tampa International Airport] and his team, we know this is the first success of many to come.”
Tampa International Airport has had a strong start to 2011 and during the first seven months of the year, the airport has carried 10.1 million passengers, and estimates it will carry about 17 million passengers for the full year. There has been strong development in the international market with traffic up 5.1 per cent year-on-year when compared with 2010. An estimated 111,000 Swiss travellers came to Florida last year, according to Visit Florida, the state's tourism agency. In the first six months of this year there were around 66,000 visitors placing Switzerland as the 18th largest international feeder market into Florida.
Ahead of the new Tampa service, Edelweiss Air will be offering an expanded long-haul programme for the winter season with new links to Cape Town, South Africa and Colombo, Sri Lanka, while Phuket will now being served twice weekly. Next summer the airline will also increase its seasonal link to Vancouver with a third weekly rotation from July 1, 2012; two flights will be non-stop, while one will operate via Calgary on the outbound leg. The airline's existing link to Beijing will also be suspended as parent company Swiss International Air Lines is launching its own flights to the Chinese capital. In the short-haul market Edelweiss will also add flights to Alicante, Dubrovnik and Funchal as an additional Airbus A320 joins its fleet in May 2012.
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