Helvetic Airways

Is Helvetic Airways safe?

Yes. Helvetic has flown since 2003 without a fatal accident or the loss of an aircraft, it is overseen by Switzerland's FOCA under EASA rules and holds a current IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, and 12 of its 20 Embraer jets are the newest E2 generation. We score it 88, above its main customer Swiss (82) and Edelweiss (85). What holds it back is a string of technical returns to Zurich.

Many travellers fly Helvetic without knowing it. Its main business is wet lease: it supplies aircraft and crews to other airlines, above all to Swiss, which has used Helvetic since 2007 and expanded the deal in 2024 to up to 15 Helvetic aircraft across its European network. Those flights carry LX numbers. Helvetic also runs a few routes of its own to smaller airports and holiday charters from Zurich and Bern, with 2L flight numbers.

What accidents has Helvetic had?

One in our 20-year window, and it happened on the ground. On 20 January 2015, a Helvetic Fokker 100 was being de-iced at Nuremberg before flight LX1189 to Zurich when its auxiliary power unit, the small turbine in the tail, swallowed de-icing fluid. The fluid ignited, the unit's speed ran away and it burst. Pieces went through the rear pressure bulkhead and lodged under the flight attendants' seats, and smoke entered the back of the cabin. The crew moved the passengers forward; nobody was hurt. Germany's BFU found the cause in the de-icing fluid entering the APU intake, made worse by poor visibility and the lack of a warning marking on the intake. It was not a crew error, so it weighs lightly in the score.

In February 2013, eight armed men posing as police drove onto the apron at Brussels and stole diamonds from the hold of a Helvetic Fokker 100 about to leave for Zurich. That was a crime against the airport, not a safety failure by the airline, and we do not count it.

What incidents has Helvetic had?

Switzerland's investigation board, the SUST, rated one Helvetic event in the last ten years a serious incident. On 12 January 2017, an Embraer 190 from Vienna to Zurich left with one of its two bleed-air systems out of service, which the minimum equipment list allows. Descending near Kempten in icing, the remaining system shut down after a leak warning, and the aircraft lost pressurisation and wing de-icing together. The crew declared an emergency, descended quickly and landed safely. The SUST praised the crew's handling but warned that flying with reduced redundancy leaves one failure away from losing key systems. A cracked pre-cooler grill caused the leak.

The rest of the record is technical problems that ended with safe landings:

• May 2017: a Fokker 100 rejected two take-offs at Zurich on the same day, about 11 hours apart, because of disagreeing airspeed readings.
• November 2019: a new E190-E2 could not retract its gear after take-off and returned to Zurich.
• December 2022: an E190 lost cabin pressure at 34,000 feet over Germany and made an emergency descent.
• 2023 to 2026: a gear fault at Luxembourg, hydraulic and flap problems at Zurich, and a lightning strike that sent an E195 back to Zurich.

We found no fine or grounding by FOCA. The incidents score of 82 reflects how often aircraft come back, not any sign of poor crew decisions.

How modern is the fleet?

Mostly modern. Helvetic flies only Embraer jets, 20 of them in 2026. Twelve are E190-E2s and E195-E2s, delivered since 2019, with three more E195-E2s on order. The E2s' Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines have needed early inspections for a powder-metal defect, which grounded several aircraft, so in 2024 Helvetic leased four E195s built in 2011 to keep 16 jets flying. The first-generation E190s and E195s are older but well-proven types. Helvetic has run its own maintenance company since 2011.

Flying Helvetic: what to check

• Read "operated by" on Swiss bookings. If it says Helvetic Airways, you fly a Helvetic Embraer with a Helvetic crew. Swiss sells the ticket, but the safety record that applies is this one.
• Expect a regional jet, not an Airbus. Helvetic's Embraers seat 110 to 134 passengers in one class. A swap from a Swiss Airbus to a Helvetic Embraer changes the cabin, not the safety picture.
• Check the airport on charters. Holiday flights from Bern-Belp leave from a much smaller airport than Zurich. In fog or strong wind a flight may be delayed or moved, so leave a buffer for onward trains or connections.

How we scored it

The clean accident record (91) and Swiss oversight backed by IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary (92) carry Helvetic. The part-E2 fleet scores 82, the technical returns score 82 for incidents, and the European network scores 85. Overall 88.