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'Swissair' ('Swiss Air Transport Company Limited') was the former national airline of Switzerland. It was formed of a merger between 'Balair' and 'Ad Astra Aero' (''To the Stars''), in 1931. For most of its 71 years, Swissair was known as the "Flying Bank" due to the financial stability of the airline, causing it be regarded as a Swiss national symbol and icon.
Nearly 30 percent of Swissair stock was owned by the Swiss government, and at the demise of the airline, Swissair belonged to the holding company SAirGroup, the regional airline Crossair, and the charter company Balair. Its major hubs until the early 1990s were at Zürich International Airport and Geneva Cointrin International Airport. Its successor, Swiss International Air Lines, is using the old Crossair sign 'LX' and the ICAO code 'SWR'.

Contents

History

The "Hunter Strategy"

Factors behind collapse

Management Trial

Swissair Legacy

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links

History

The "Hunter Strategy"

In the 1990s Swissair initiated the "Hunter Strategy", a major expansion program devised by the consulting firm of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Using this strategy, Swissair aimed to grow its market share through the acquisition of small airlines rather than entering into alliances agreements. Swissair was advised to acquire 49.5 percent of the unprofitable Belgian flag carrier, Sabena, and significant stakes in the carriers Air Liberté, AOM, Air Littoral, Volare, LOT, Air Europe, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, South African Airways, Portugalia and LTU.
The buying spree created a major cash flow crisis for parent company SAirGroup, and was exacerbated by the environment caused by the September 11 attacks. Unable to make payments to creditors on its mountain of debt, and the refusal of UBS AG to extend its line of credit on October 2, 2001 the entire Swissair fleet was abruptly grounded.^[1] Many blamed the UBS for the fiasco causing demonstrators to take to the streets with signs referring to UBS chairman, Marcel Ospel as "''Bin Ospel''" and redefining the bank's acronym, "UBS" as the ''United Bandits of Switzerland''.
Two large bridge loans from the Swiss government were required to then finance continuation of flight operations. This notwithstanding, with the resumption of flight service, it was necessary for flight deck crew to carry large sums of cash for fuel purchases at foreign airports. After the acquisition of assets by Crossair, and liquidation firm, Jürg Hoss Liquidators, on March 31 2002, Crossair was renamed Swiss International Air Lines, and Swissair officially ceased to exist.

Factors behind collapse

Like other airlines, Swissair's operations and profitability were disrupted in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States. However, as Swissair's directors included many politicians, commentators have pointed to potential conflicts of interest as fundamental to the demise of Swissair. The judiciary is continuing to examine why Swissair acquired counselling that supported the Hunter Strategy, and why Swissair continued to make certain payments despite nearing insolvency. Questions have also been raised about federal aid given to Swissair and the politicians involved.

Management Trial

The criminal trial began January 16, 2007 in Bülach. The entire Swissair management board stood facing criminal charges of mismanagement, false statements, and forgery of documents. Top defendants in the trial were Mario Corti, Philippe Bruggisser, George Schorderet, Jacqualyn Fouse, Eric Honegger and Vrena Spoerry. Corti, Honegger and Spoerry entered statements proclaiming their innocence.^[2]
On June 7, 2007 the court in Bülach cleared the defendants of all criminal charges over the airline's 2001 bankruptcy.^[3]

Swissair Legacy

Crossair restarted the company in 2001 and the successor airlines ''Swiss International Air Lines'' and ''Swiss European Air Lines'' were born. These two airlines are divisions of ''Swiss'', the parent company. Recently, Swiss merged into the Lufthansa Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the flag carrier of Germany.
With the merger with Lufthansa, Swiss joined the Star Alliance as Lufthansa is a member of Star Alliance. The two airlines operate their flights on behalf of each other, making up something similar to a joint flag carrier of Germany and Switzerland.
At one point, it appeared that Swiss was going to become a member of the Oneworld alliance. It had codeshares with Oneworld carriers British Airways, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Aer Lingus and Finnair, and held a strategic partnership and joint operation for all service to North America and AA-operated flights beyond U.S. gateways using American Airlines. Swiss started to terminate these codeshare agreements, but did not terminate the AA alliance. A theory emerged that Swiss was planning to use its partnerships, the AA alliance, and its partnership with British Airways, a strong supportive member of Oneworld, to join Oneworld itself. Swiss took a sudden turn in 2005 with its alliance with Lufthansa, and continued into the Star Alliance network. Throughout this the American Airlines alliance remained, but did not expand. Swiss then created an alliance with Star Alliance member United Airlines and replaced some of the American Airlines codeshare destinations from Dallas and JFK, AA's hubs with United codeshare service out of O'Hare (the only place where ''American Airlines'' and ''United'' share a hub) and Washington Dulles International Airport. Therefore, the American Airlines alliance was weakened.
American Airlines and Swiss both plan to terminate all codeshare service including their alliance agreement altogether. Most routes out of O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, American's hub, are currently operated by United, which also uses O'Hare for a hub. Therefore, the American Alliance will be terminated little-by-little, and with every inch the AA alliance weakens, the United alliances gains the same amount. It is likely that United will have taken over the American-Swiss alliance sometime during 2007.
Swiss recycled the Swissair fleet and refurbished the liveries to turn it into the new Swiss fleet. Swiss has since retired all of its Boeing and McDonell Douglas fleet and operates all Airbus models from the A319 to the A340 aircraft. Swiss retired its Saab 2000 and Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft, and operates the British Aerospace Avro Aerospace RJ-85 and 100 aircraft. Swiss's frequent flyer club, Swiss TravelClub became part of Miles & More, which was originally the Lufthansa frequent flyer club. It acts as both airlines' frequent flyer program.

Accidents and incidents

June 19, 1954	A Convair CV-240 ditches due to fuel starvation in the English Channel, near Folkestone. All three crew members survive, but three of the five passengers die as they are unable to swim. Passenger aircraft at this time were not obliged to carry life-rafts or life-jackets, and this was one of the many incidents which inspired this obligation to be passed as law.
July 15, 1956	A Convair CV-440 crashes during a delivery flight from San Diego, California to Zürich via New York, Gander and Shannon. On approach to Shannon, the pilots execute an abnormally steep turn, causing the aircraft to stall and drop to the ground. Four crew members die.
June 18, 1957	A Douglas DC-3 crashes during a flight exercise conducted under visual flight rules with nine people aboard. All die. The aim of the exercise was to practise flying with one engine switched off and propellers feathered.
September 4, 1963	Without authorization, the pilot of a Swissair Sud Aviation Caravelle carrying seventy-four passengers and six crew members taxies halfway along a runway at Zürich Airport in order to inspect and clear fog. He then returns to the start of the runway and takes off. Ten minutes later the aircraft crashes, killing all on board. During its initial ascent, witnesses state they saw smoke issuing from one of its engines. Subsequent investigation establishes that braking during the pilot's unauthorised maneuver overheated a tyre, causing it to burst, damaging a fuel line and starting the fire that ultimately led to loss of aircraft control.
February 10, 1967	A Convair CV-440 collides with a cloud-covered mountain; four crew members died.
February 21, 1970	A bomb on board a Convair CV-990 cripples Swissair Flight 330 nine minutes after take-off from Zürich to Tel Aviv. Forty-seven die when the aircraft crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Zürich.
September 6, 1970	Three empty hijacked jet airliners, one belonging to Swissair, are blown up by terrorists at Dawson's Field, Zerqa, Jordan. See Dawson's Field hijackings.
October 8, 1979	A McDonnell Douglas DC-8 lands under "adverse conditions" at Athens International Airport, overshooting the runway and killing fourteen passengers. The plane touches down at too great a speed and too far along the runway for the pilots to use sufficient braking and reverse thrust.
September 2, 1998	A McDonnell Douglas MD-11 travelling from New York's JFK International Airport to Geneva crashes due to fire and subsequent instrument failure at night over the Atlantic Ocean, 80 km southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia. All 215 passengers and 14 crew members died. See Swissair Flight 111.

See also

★ ''Grounding (film)''

References

1. Swissair grounds all flights
2. Swissair executives assert innocence at first day of Switzerland's biggest corporate trial Harry Rosenbaum
3. All Swissair defendants cleared


★ Aviation Safety Network

★ Nolmans, Erik (Nov. 14, 2005). "UBS Fastens its Seatbelts". ''FORTUNE'', p. 20.

External links

★ Last Swissair Page on the web, from the Internet Archive

★ Swissair Fansite

★ Private site focusing on Swissair's Grounding

★ Airliners.net article: Swissair, Gone with the Wind...

★ Swissair and Swiss Fan Site