Trip for 11,000 francs Cassis flew to the delegates' meeting in the Federal Council jet

The FDP delegates' meeting took place in Geneva on Saturday. Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis was also there. He traveled from Bern to Geneva on the Federal Council jet - and later flew to Ticino.

Federal Councillor Ignazio Cassis traveled by Federal Council jet to Geneva on Saturday to attend the FDP delegates' meeting. There, the Foreign Minister gave a speech on the "Schrödinger's turnaround" and addressed the party slogan on the SRG initiative.

According to "20 Minuten", however, Cassis was not coming from an appointment abroad, but from Bern. The jet took him to the congress center not far from the UN. After the event, he continued on to Lugano Agno, near his home.

The plane then flew back to Bern, apparently empty. In total, the federal airplane was in the air for around one and a half hours.

Trip is said to have cost 10,800 francs

According to the Department of Defense (DDPS), the Citation Excel costs 7200 francs per flight hour. The trip on Saturday is therefore likely to have cost around CHF 10,800, as "20 Minuten" reports.

The responsible Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) emphasizes that Federal Councillors travel domestically "primarily by car or train" and that flight connections are only planned in exceptional cases.

However, this "exception" is not uncommon for Cassis: in 2024, he used the Federal Council plane a total of 48 times on the route to or from Lugano Agno. No other member of the national government flew so frequently between home and the capital. By train or car, it would have taken Cassis around two hours to get to Geneva and another five hours to Ticino.