VELA Airlines now flies long-haul. Since 2 November, six new routes connect Zurich with San Diego, Atlanta and Ottawa in North America, Cape Town in South Africa, and Chennai and Almaty in Asia. Each route is flown three times a week by the Airbus A330 and A340, with three cabins on board: Business, Economy Max and Economy.
With the six new routes, the VELA network grows to 29 destinations in 18 countries and territories, with 445 flights a week from and to Zurich.
The routes
- San Diego · Airbus A330-200
- Monday, Wednesday and Friday · 12 h 00 min
- Cape Town · Airbus A340-300
- Monday, Wednesday and Friday · 10 h 45 min
- Atlanta · Airbus A330-300
- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday · 9 h 45 min
- Chennai · Airbus A330-200
- Monday, Wednesday and Friday · 9 h 00 min
- Ottawa · Airbus A330-300
- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday · 8 h 15 min
- Almaty · Airbus A330-300
- Monday, Wednesday and Saturday · 6 h 45 min
The days are those of the departure from Zurich, the times are scheduled flight times from Zurich. San Diego is the longest flight in the VELA network: it leaves Zurich at 11:00 and lands in California at 14:00 local time on the same day.
Back in Zurich in the morning
The return flights from Atlanta, Ottawa and Cape Town leave in the afternoon or evening and land in Zurich at 07:00 the next morning, as do the night flights from Chennai and Almaty. That leaves time to connect in Zurich to the morning departures across Europe. The flight from San Diego lands in Zurich at noon.
“We picked six cities that could hardly be more different, from the Pacific coast to the foot of the Tian Shan. What five of them share is a return that lands in Zurich at seven in the morning, in time for the first wave of flights into Europe.”
Booking
All six routes can be booked now in the flight search, and the seat map shows the long-haul cabin of the aircraft scheduled on your flight. Every destination has its own page with the timetable, travel tips and the sights worth the journey.
