Switzerland's national airline said on Monday it would cut flights to Athens and Madrid, both hard-hit by the eurozone crisis, and would expand its flights to more lucrative destinations.

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"We have to change and we will bring in new destinations ... to increase frequency into destinations where we think it makes more sense for our customers," said Rainer Hildebrand, the chief operating officer at the airline Swiss.

At a briefing with reporters in Geneva, Hildebrand described the existing services to Greece and Spain as "unsustainable" given the economic situation
in both countries.

From next year, Swiss therefore plans to cut services from Switzerland to the Greek capital by half and will offer just one flight a day, while it will reduce the number of flights to and from Madrid each week from 14 to around 12, a company spokeswoman said.

In an effort to offer a wider destination portfolio, Swiss will meanwhile boost services to Palma, on the Spanish island of Majorca and to Malaga, Spain, and will introduce routes to the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily.

Swiss also announced the creation of a dedicated crew-base in Geneva to focus on customers in the Romandy region of Switzerland.   

The move is part of reforms launched in 2006 that helped boost passenger numbers from the city three-fold over five years to 1.9 million last year, the company said.