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65-535: Qualiflyer was formed in April 1992, as Europe's first frequent-flyer program, for Swissair, Crossair and Austrian Airlines. Originally, Swissair's partner airline Crossair and its high-end hotel chain Swissôtel also participated in the program. Qualiflyer's affiliation to one of the world-class airlines caused membership to grow quickly to 2 million members in the first eight years. After that, other airlines joined in

130-417: A basis for the creation of Swiss . By preventing the complete collapse of Swissair, the other airline-related businesses of the group were likewise spared collapse. Following another federal repayable funding commitment of one billion francs, each of the 26 long-haul aircraft ( MD-11s and A330s ) and 26 medium-haul aircraft ( A321s , A320s and A319s ) were able to be transferred to Crossair / Swiss at

195-817: A company that initially used older Swissair aircraft to fly to holiday destinations. As the first European customer, Swissair bought the Douglas DC-7 C which enabled the company to provide non-stop flights to the United States. For shorter-range routes, the Convair Metropolitan was used. In 1957, the Far East was added to the route network. Direct flights to Tokyo had intermediate stops in Athens , Karachi , Bombay , Bangkok and Manila . That same year, Swissair helped Aristotle Onassis form

260-629: A national referendum held on 6 December 1992, Swiss citizens rejected taking part in the European Economic Area (EEA). This referendum was a significant disservice to Swissair, an airline with a tiny domestic market: its planes were not allowed to take up passengers during intermediate landings in EEA countries (e.g., Zürich-Frankfurt-New York), and Swissair was not allowed to offer tickets for sections that fully lie in EEA member countries (e.g., Zürich-Frankfurt-Paris). See also freedoms of

325-629: A quality airline and from the fact that the political neutrality of Switzerland allowed the company to fly to exotic and lucrative destinations in Africa, the Middle East, South America and the Far East. In geographic terms, the central position of Switzerland in Europe helped it generate revenue from transfer passengers. By the early 1970s, Swissair was becoming known as "the flying bank", appealing to

390-696: A wider European market. Finally, after deregulation, Swissair tried to expand beyond its home market; after the Alcazar project was cancelled, Swissair aimed to be a major force in European aviation. In the mid-1990s, Swissair initiated the disastrous "Hunter Strategy", a major expansion programme devised by the US consulting firm McKinsey & Co . Using this strategy, Swissair aimed to grow its market share by acquiring small airlines rather than entering into alliance agreements. Swissair decided to acquire 49.5 per cent of

455-553: Is why, when Qualiflyer launched in 1992, two account types were introduced: the Qualiflyer basic level, for everyone wishing to collect miles, and the Qualiflyer Travelclub, for more frequent travelers. To meet the needs of particular target groups better, further club levels were added. The Travelclub Gold, for very frequent travelers and Qualiflyer Circle for an exclusive group of selected members. The existence of

520-738: The Curtiss Condor beginning in 1934. Nelly Diener , the first flight attendant in Europe, became world-famous. She was killed after just 79 flights in a crash near Wurmlingen, Germany, on 27 July 1934. The cause of the crash was material fatigue . In 1936, Douglas DC-2s were acquired, and London was added to the route network. In 1937, the bigger Douglas DC-3 was bought. In the same year, both founding fathers died: Walter Mittelholzer died while mountaineering in Steiermark , Austria, and Balz Zimmermann succumbed to an infectious disease. On 27 August 1939, days before World War II broke out,

585-705: The Magadino Plains in Ticino . Operations were suspended in August 1944, when a Swissair DC-2 was destroyed in Stuttgart during an American bombing raid. On 30 July 1945, Swissair was able to resume commercial aviation. In 1947, the rise of shareholder capital to SFr 20 million (equivalent to SFr 95.61 million or US$ 105.06 million in 2021) enabled long-haul flights to New York, South Africa, and South America with Douglas DC-4s . The modern Convair 240 ,

650-494: The "Circle" was not actively communicated, to ensure optimum exclusivity. The Circle was introduced in 1994 and the Travelclub Gold membership only many years later in 2001. For every level, further benefits were offered. The following airlines were at one point members of The Qualiflyer Group or partners of just the frequent flyer program: Qualiflyer won industry awards in a wide range of categories. This award honors

715-743: The CV-990s during that time. Swissair was the second European airline to offer service to the People's Republic of China , introducing service to Beijing and Shanghai in 1975. In the same year, Swissair was the launch customer for the DC-9-51. In 1977, Swissair was the launch customer for the third DC-9 type, the DC-9-81 variant, now called the MD-80. Armin Baltensweiler had travelled to a meeting of

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780-566: The Czechoslovak operator CSA purchased a Ford Trimotor in 1930. The Orion was the fastest commercial aeroplane of its time and was put to use on the "Express Line", Zürich - Munich - Vienna . This led Lufthansa to ask Heinkel for a model that could top Orion's speed, leading to the Heinkel He 70 . The first trans-Alpine route was introduced in 1933: Zürich- Milan . For the first time in Europe, flight attendants were employed aboard

845-692: The DC-4 on transatlantic routes. In 1948, the airport in Dübendorf, which had served as the base of Swissair, was relocated to Zürich-Kloten. Military aviation continued in Dübendorf. The next year, Swissair plunged into a financial crisis due to a sudden devaluation of the British pound because fares, except for traffic to the United States, were calculated in British currency. At that time, traffic to England made up 40 per cent of Swissair's revenue. In June 1950, Walter Berchtold, manager of Swiss Federal Railways,

910-550: The French investments. For the first time, the board began to consider scenarios for phasing out its existing participation in other airlines as Swissair looked to withdraw from its foreign investments. In January 2001, Bruggisser was summarily dismissed. Moritz Suter, the founder of Crossair, was nominated as the new CEO of SAirLines and thus all Group airlines, including Swissair. After only 44 days in charge, Suter resigned. In March 2001, two studies by consultants were presented to

975-703: The McDonnell-Douglas directorial board in St. Louis to convince them to further stretch the fuselage of the DC-9-51. Baltensweiler was called the "Father of the MD-80". In 1979, Swissair was the first company to order the Airbus A310 and the jumbo jet variant with a stretched upper deck, the Boeing 747-300 . Later on, the Fokker 100 short-range aircraft and the three-engined MD-11 were aircraft for which Swissair

1040-521: The Qualiflyer program. The Qualiflyer Group would ultimately be a contributing factor in Swissair's demise. Currently Swiss International Air Lines , the successor company of Swissair, is participating in the Miles & More frequent flyer program with Lufthansa . The Qualiflyer Group logo resembled a blue globe surrounded by two swooping arms. The entire globe was encircled by ten stars symbolizing

1105-655: The SAirGroup were handed over to the liquidation firm of Jürg Hoss and ceased operations on 31 March 2002. Crossair was renamed Swiss International Air Lines , or Swiss for short, and took over Swissair's intercontinental routes on 1 April 2002, officially ending 71 years of Swissair service. An investigation by the Zurich branch of Ernst & Young into factors behind the grounding revealed that "...in contradiction to representations made by SAir Group, not just 14.5 million Swiss Francs, but around CHF50 million were available at

1170-711: The Swiss Federal Government. The final Swissair flight landed in Zürich from São Paulo on 1 April 2002. On 1 April 2002, a former regional subsidiary Crossair renamed itself Swiss International Air Lines and took over most of Swissair's routes, planes , and staff. Swissair Group still exists and has since been liquidated. Swiss International Air Lines was taken over by the German airline Lufthansa in 2005. On 26 March 1931, Swissair – Schweizerische Luftverkehr AG (English: Swissair – Swiss Air Transport )

1235-483: The US Pullman railway cars . Two adjacent seats were moved towards each other and formed a lower berth. The wall panel could be folded downward, forming the upper berth in which the other person could sleep. A year later, a tourist class cabin was introduced on intra-European flights. In 1953, Swissair, with the city of Basel , founded a charter company called Balair , reusing the name of one of its predecessors,

1300-440: The air . Like other airlines based in smaller countries, Swissair was now under significant pressure. More and more national airlines have affiliated themselves with airline alliances to maintain a worldwide market presence. But to be interesting for American alliance partners, an airline must have a critical size in terms of passenger numbers. To meet that goal, in 1993, an alliance between Swissair, KLM, SAS, and Austrian Airlines

1365-421: The airspace over Germany and France was closed. Swissair was forced to suspend service to Amsterdam, Paris, and London. Two days later, the Swissair service was closed completely. Of 180 employees, 131 had to serve in the army. Despite the war, some routes were later re-introduced, such as Munich, Berlin , Rome , and Barcelona . In 1940, an invasion of Switzerland was feared, and Swissair moved their operations to

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1430-447: The assets of Swissair following that airline's bankruptcy in 2002, Crossair was restructured to become Swiss International Air Lines . The airline was founded as a private company under the name Business Flyers Basel AG in 1975 by Moritz Suter. The name later changed to Crossair on 18 November 1978, before the beginning of scheduled services on 2 July 1979, with flights from Zürich to Nuremberg , Innsbruck and Klagenfurt . It

1495-537: The bank's acronym, "UBS", as the United Bandits of Switzerland . Two large bridge loans from the Swiss government were required to finance the continuation of flight operations. This notwithstanding, with the resumption of flight service, it was necessary for flight crews to carry large sums of cash to purchase fuel at foreign airports. On 1 October 2001, Project "Phoenix" was announced, under which parts of

1560-779: The banks, with some hotels expelling the crew, and having them return home at their own expense. All tickets sold were voided. 4 October 2001 saw demonstrations by former Swissair employees before the UBS presentation held in Glattbrugg, and the following day saw demonstrations in Bern 's Federal Square. At around the same time, SAirGroup's stake in Crossair was sold to the Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse . Furthermore, Crossair took over various assets of former Swissair, including its employees, aircraft, and most European routes. Swissair and

1625-498: The best dialogue marketing campaigns and is selected by a jury of dialogue marketing experts. Crossair Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport ( German : Crossair AG für europäischen Regionalluftverkehr ) was a Swiss regional airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin , France , near Basel , Switzerland. After taking over most of

1690-410: The board, which showed the financial difficulties of SAirGroup. At this point, the directors resigned, with only Mario Corti , the former CFO of Nestlé , remaining. From April to August 2001, the group's Moody's credit rating was gradually downgraded from A3 to B1 (it was downgraded further to B2 on September 18th). The buying spree created a major cash flow crisis for parent company SAirGroup and

1755-681: The company struggled with severe turbulence: a currency crisis, collective chaos, an air traffic controllers' strike, the October War and the first oil crisis were weathered without significant damage. In the same year, the regional representative of Swissair in Buenos Aires was kidnapped by the Montoneros . After 38 days in captivity, he was released after the payment of SFr12.35 million (equivalent to SFr29.69 million or US$ 32.63 million in 2021) ransom. The airline also phased out

1820-495: The company's disposal on the morning of October 2, 2001". The report further stated that "Without the administrative inadequacies connected with the release of an escrow account , an additional CHF 73 million would have been available. Thus, overall some CHF 123 million would have been available at SAirGroup, SAirLines and Swissair." Former Crossair executive André Dosé, who also served as the first CEO of successor airline Swiss International Air Lines , stated in 2004 that this meant

1885-485: The desire to partner with Air France instead. During the European airline deregulation transition, Jeffrey Katz served as CEO of Swissair from 1997 to 2000, a period of increased fuel prices and industry overcapacity . In the summer of 2000, SAir's CEO Philippe Bruggisser came under public pressure as the press published the group's financial situation. Swissair and Sabena were each losing one million francs per day, and another million were lost every day at LTU and

1950-462: The end of that year, kerosene prices had doubled , and fuel costs had increased from 12% to 16% of total costs. Swissair was the first to order the Airbus A310 designed with a two-man cockpit for more traffic-tight short distances and on shorter medium distances, and accepted options for 10 more units. Another Boeing 747 was ordered. Dublin was added to the route network as a new destination, but service to Beirut had to be discontinued in mid-July due to

2015-704: The end of the winter schedule of 2001/02. On Easter Monday, 1 April 2002, the last flight of Swissair, flight SR145 from São Paulo, landed in Zürich. A 71-year-long chapter of Swiss aviation history thus came to an end. Between 1931 and 2002, Swissair transported more than 260 million passengers. The SwissairGroup (the name change from SAirGroup to SwissairGroup was announced in 2001 but never officially implemented) still existed as 'SAirGroup in Nachlassstundung' ( German : Swissair in Administration ) for several years until all assets were liquidated, including

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2080-601: The expense of the core business of Swissair: commercial aviation. Due to a 12-day global flight ban for the DC-10 imposed by the US Federal Aviation Administration after the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 on 25 May 1979, a sizable portion of the long-haul fleet was on the ground. On October 7, after landing in Athens, a DC-8 overran the runway and caught fire , killing 14 passengers. By

2145-478: The federal government, cantons, municipalities, the Swiss Federal Railways, and the Swiss postal services, took over 30.6% of the shares and enabled Swissair to get a credit of 15  million Swiss Francs to purchase the airline's first two Douglas DC-6 B airliners for delivery in 1951. By that act, Swissair became Switzerland's national flag carrier . The new pressurised aircraft was to replace

2210-550: The first European airline to do so, Swissair signed in 1989 a cooperation treaty with Delta Air Lines and Singapore Airlines to create the alliance "Global Excellence". In 1990, together with SAS, Austrian Airlines and Finnair , the "European Quality Alliance" was founded. The last alliance was later renamed "The Qualiflyer Group". Because of the weak economy, the Gulf War and its aftermath, and rising operational costs, many airlines lost money in 1990 and 1991. Additionally,

2275-465: The first Swissair plane with a pressurised cabin, was used for short and medium-range flights starting in late 1948. The first Swissair DC-4 flight to New York was routed via Shannon , Ireland, and Stephenville, Newfoundland , on 2 May 1947. However, it ended in Washington, D.C. , due to fog at New York's LaGuardia Airport . The total elapsed time was 20 hours and 55 minutes. The public, including

2340-521: The first morning flights. During the morning, fuel suppliers refused to fuel the waiting aircraft. At 15:45 CEST , CEO Mario Corti announced a cessation of flight operations due to the security risks caused by the crossing of the Flight Duty Regulations. This led to the cancellation of over 230 flights, and thousands of passengers, as well as flight crews, were stranded around the world. Flight crew corporate credit cards were blocked by

2405-454: The following aircraft throughout its existence: [REDACTED] Media related to Crossair at Wikimedia Commons Swissair Swissair ( German : Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG ; French : S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne ) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. Swissair was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero . For most of its 71 years, it

2470-536: The grey-blue ones of the Swiss Women's Army Corps , so Berchtold introduced ones in a modish marine blue. Swissair initiated a veritable fashion competition among European airlines. In 1952, the cabin layout on northern trans-Atlantic routes was changed to one with a first and a tourist (economy) class. The first-class cabin had comfortable chairs in which one could sleep, given the name "Slumberettes". Those sleeping chairs were soon succeeded by beds, modelled after

2535-424: The grounding was not necessary and that Swissair could have likely continued flying until the financing for a successor airline would have been finalized, a view he reiterated in a 2021 interview. In his 2004 statement, Dose voiced the view that Corti and then-CFO Jacqualyn Fouse had lost oversight of Swissair's finances, accounting for this mismatch in perception of available funds. Mario Corti vehemently rejected

2600-430: The group sought a payment delay. The Swiss federal authorities were willing to pay back half of the loan, so they secured the continuation of service. 2 October 2001 saw an increased necessity for strong liquidity, as all suppliers insisted on cash payments of outstanding invoices following a request for payment delay announced the day before. The company's cash reserves filed on that day were barely sufficient to carry out

2665-674: The large hidden assets and the huge liquidity Swissair had. Second, "flying bank" was the designation for a corporate group that cared more about financial management than about flying aeroplanes. With the beginning of deregulation and liberalisation in the late 1970s, airlines felt growing financial pressure. In 1978, Moritz Suter founded a regional airline named Crossair , which put Swissair under additional stress. To counter these changes, Swissair invested their large financial reserves into takeovers and into flight-related trades like baggage handling, catering, aircraft maintenance, and duty-free stores. This strategy diversified economic risks at

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2730-540: The new Greek airline, Olympic Airways . While competitors first looked at turboprop aeroplanes to replace their piston-engined craft, Swissair introduced jet aeroplanes. Together with SAS, Swissair bought Douglas DC-8s , which were delivered beginning in 1960. For medium and short-range routes, the Sud Aviation Caravelle was purchased. The aircraft were maintained in concert with SAS, and manuals for operation and maintenance were co-written. Swissair

2795-470: The notion that Swissair and SAirGroup bank accounts together held more than 14 million Swiss francs in a public statement after the Ernst & Young report came out. On 5 October, commercial flights on most routes were gradually resumed thanks to a federal emergency loan of over CHF 450 million. This occurred, in part, to ensure Switzerland's continued accessibility as a business location and to establish

2860-495: The older and smaller DC-9. In addition, modern, fuel-saving aircraft, such as five new Boeing 747s with extended upper decks and two DC-10-30s with a longer range, were ordered. With the connection of Zurich Airport to the national railway network, bus delivery services from Zürich were discontinued. Air passengers were already able to check their luggage at the rail station. The route network was expanded with service to Jakarta, but flights to Tehran and Baghdad had to be suspended after

2925-477: The ongoing liberalisation of the industry strengthened competition. Consequently, Swissair lost 99 million Swiss Francs in the first half-year and could not pay dividends to its shareholders. In 1991 and 1992, Swissair had to utilise financial reserves to cushion significant losses from the commercial aviation sector. On 1 January 1991, commercial aviation in Europe was completely liberalised, and existing capacities led to aggressive competition among airlines. In

2990-832: The outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war. By the end of 1980, Swissair was represented in 196 cities. New representations or points of sale were opened in Luxembourg, Ulm, Ottawa, Raleigh, Westchester, Valparaíso, Jubil, Sanaa, and Salisbury/Harare. Under the name Swissôtel , the hotels Président in Geneva, International in Zürich, Drake in New York, and Bellevue Palace in Bern were administratively combined. Regarding further liberalisation of Europe's airline market, Swissair focused more on commercial aviation and extended its partnerships. As

3055-542: The political turmoil in Lebanon. Swissair was able to outperform the competition in a year that experts deemed to be the worst in the history of civil aviation. In contrast to other airlines, which began to offer a second-tier executive class , the proven cabin division into first and economy classes was maintained. The short-haul fleet was renewed with the MD-81 (DC-9-81) introduction. This type of aircraft partially replaced

3120-481: The program, and the program received even larger amounts of membership. In 1998, Swissair, one of the more conservative European airlines, decided to have a hand at expansion. Instead of doing this by joining one of the new airlines alliances Star Alliance and oneworld and SkyTeam , it decided to acquire minority stakes in several airlines. Among these were Sabena , TAP Air Portugal , Air Europe , and LOT Polish Airlines . These airlines all came to participate in

3185-407: The same year, the first Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet was acquired, and in the next year, the first McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 followed. Both types shaped the long-haul fleet until the 1990s. Again, the specifications of both aircraft were developed in collaboration with SAS. Also in 1972, Switzerland introduced a prohibition of night flights, which led to the cessation of cheaper night fares. In 1973,

3250-473: The short and medium-range routes, and, after convincing Douglas , which soon merged with McDonnell Aircraft to create McDonnell Douglas , ultimately merged with Boeing , offered a stretched variant: the DC-9-32. For the first time, Swissair was the launch customer of an aircraft type. In 1971, Armin Baltensweiler took over as president of the directorial board and ran the enterprise for over two decades. In

3315-404: The ten member airlines. Airlines participating in the group were required to fly airplanes with a rather large Qualiflyer logo sticker applied. Swissair and Sabena principally had several airplanes painted with a blue underbelly with "The Qualiflyer Group" titles applied near the nose. The Qualiflyer program always made a distinction between genuine frequent flyers and other traveling members. That

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3380-465: The very successful Italian charter airline Air Europe, the unprofitable Belgian flag carrier Sabena , and significant stakes in the carriers Air Liberté , AOM , Air Littoral , Volare , LOT , Turkish Airlines , South African Airways , Portugália and LTU , and planned to acquire stakes in Aer Lingus , Finnair , Malév , as well as Brazilian carriers TAM and Transbrasil . By mid-2000, it

3445-416: Was elected to the directorial board of Swissair and served as the director. In 1971, he created the corporate culture of Swissair. He grasped the importance of corporate image and corporate identity and after the example of BOAC 's " Speedbird ", he introduced the arrow-shaped Swissair logo. Giving flight personnel a distinct uniform was also an important move. At the time, flight attendants' uniforms resembled

3510-624: Was exacerbated by the environment caused by the September 11 attacks . Unable to make payments to creditors on its large debt, and with the refusal of UBS to extend its line of credit, on 2 October 2001 the entire Swissair fleet was abruptly grounded. Many blamed UBS for the fiasco, causing demonstrators to take to the streets with signs referring to UBS chairman Marcel Ospel as " Bin Ospel ", quoting al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden , and redefining

3575-434: Was first deemed "un-Swiss". In the first operational year, 64 people were employed, including ten pilots, seven radio operators, and eight mechanics. Their planes offered 85 seats, and operation was maintained only from March to October. The route network had a length of 4,203 kilometres (2,612 mi). On 17 April 1932, Swissair bought two Lockheed Orions , making them the second European airline to use American planes after

3640-403: Was founded through the fusion of the airlines Ad Astra Aero (founded in 1919) and Balair (1925). Balz Zimmermann and the Swiss aviation pioneer Walter Mittelholzer were the founding fathers. In contrast to other airlines, it did not receive support from the government. The name "Swissair" was the proposal of Dr Alphonse Ehinger, president of the directorial board of Balair, although "Swissair"

3705-574: Was headquartered at Zurich Airport in Kloten in 1985. It added charter services for major shareholder Swissair in November 1995. After parent company SAirGroup had to apply for a debt restructuring moratorium in October 2001, it became necessary to change the entire planning. On 31 March 2002, Swissair ceased all operations while most of its assets were taken over by Crossair which then

3770-574: Was one of the few companies to order the Convair 990 Coronado for its medium and long-range routes. Although the aircraft did not initially fulfil contractual specifications, they were liked by employees and customers. They operated on the airline's routes to South America, West Africa, and the Middle and Far East. 1966 saw the introduction of the Douglas DC-9 . That aircraft became the backbone of

3835-694: Was one of the major international airlines and known as the "Flying Bank" due to its financial stability, causing it to be regarded as a Swiss national symbol and icon. It was headquartered at Zurich Airport , Kloten . In 1997, the Swissair Group was renamed SAirGroup (although it was again renamed Swissair Group in 2001), with four subdivisions: SAirLines (to which Swissair, regional subsidiaries Crossair and Balair, and leasing subsidiary FlightLease belonged), SAirServices, SAirLogistics, and SAirRelations. Due to its so-called "Hunter Strategy" of expanding its market by acquiring smaller airlines, Swissair

3900-694: Was predicted that Swissair would lose between SFr3.25 billion (equivalent to SFr3.51 billion or US$ 3.86 billion in 2021) and SFr4.45 billion (equivalent to SFr4.81 billion or US$ 5.29 billion in 2021) over the next three fiscal years. The management, however, maintained classical restructuring, and the Board approved the reorganisation of LTU for approximately SFr500 million (equivalent to SFr540.41 million or US$ 593.86 million in 2021) . Also, there were plans to take over Alitalia . In October 1999, Delta Air Lines cancelled its transatlantic Atlantic Excellence alliance with Swissair and Sabena , citing

3965-434: Was proposed. This project bore the name " Alcazar " to create a single Central European airline. However, in various countries, this project was criticised. In Switzerland itself, it was thought that the huge financial assets were too precious to sacrifice to merge Swissair with the other airlines. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Swissair tried to merge with Air France , Lufthansa , and British Airways to get access to

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4030-423: Was subsequently restructured and rebranded to become Swiss International Air Lines . Crossair was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin , France, near Basel , Switzerland. In 2002 the name "Crossair" was replaced with "Swiss International Air Lines" on the head office building. Crossair flew from Basel , Bern , Geneva , Lugano and Zurich. Crossair

4095-435: Was suffering from over-expansion by the late 1990s. The crash of Swissair Flight 111 in 1998, which killed all 229 people on board, generated a costly lawsuit and negative publicity for the airline. After the economic downturn following the September 11 attacks , Swissair's assets dramatically lost value, grounding the already-troubled airline in October 2001. The airline was later revived and kept alive until 31 March 2002 by

4160-505: Was the launch customer. 1983 saw the replacement of the older DC-9s with MD-83s. Since the 1960s, Swissair has been a world leader in the development of cargo reservation systems (CRS). PARS and CARIDO were examples of systems enabling the booking of passenger seats and freight space. After the 1960s, air traffic increased quickly and allowed many airlines—many of which were quasi-monopolists on their routes—to yield high revenues. Swissair profited from its well-established reputation as

4225-426: Was very interested in serving from several hubs and, therefore set up a multi-hub business plan. Crossair set up a Eurocross scheme from their Basel base to serve smaller airports and transfer their passengers to larger hubs with short transit times (only around 20 minutes) This helped Crossair link with partners, such as Swissair from Zurich. Crossair also operated flights between Swiss airports. Crossair has operated

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