Swiss International Airlines is launching a direct service between Basel and Budapest, starting January 16, increasing its total number of direct service to 102. The carrier is timing the launch with peak skiing season and the service will enable access to the ski resorts of Budapest in two hours.

The carrier will fly four times a week, the airline's Avro RJ-100 aircraft operating on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays.

This service is further expected to further increase air-traffic between the two countries. In 2006, air-traffic rose by 27.6 per cent from 2005. In 2005, a total of 3.11 lakh passengers travelled between the two countries, substantially increasing air traffic to 3.85 per cent. During the year, Swiss nationals accounted for 1.56 per cent of traffic.

The new service is hailed as a great opportunity for Hungarian travellers, while it would also be beneficial to the country's tourism industry due to the inflow of Swiss back-packers.

Meanwhile in a separate development, Swiss International has signed a long-term collaboration agreement with Swiss International Air Lines. The new accord covers the provision of ground handling services for the carrier in Switzerland from 2007 to 2011.

The contract encompasses ground handling services, realignment of various operational interfaces, adoption of performance-based pricing models and a stronger focus on customer satisfaction.

The new agreement will enable Swiss International Air Lines to achieve "substantial cost savings".

"We are very satisfied with the results of our negotiations," says Daniel Weder, vice-president airport services and operation steering at Swiss.

"Through our positive collaboration with our partner Swissport, we can further enhance our ground product and associated interfaces, all to the benefit of our passengers. Our new agreement with Swissport also offers all these products and services on attractive terms that will further intensify what is already a strong and fruitful cooperation."

Swissport International is owned by Ferrovial, a leading European infrastructure and service corporation based in Spain. It provides ground services for over 70 million passengers and 3.2 million tonne of cargo a year on behalf of some 650 companies.

With its workforce of around 21,000 personnel, Swissport is active at 181 airports in 42 countries on five continents, and had posted operating revenues of EUR 999 million or $1,315 million in 2005.