Swiss International Air Lines
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Swiss International Air Lines is an airline based in Basle in Switzerland. It is the principal Swiss airline operating scheduled services to North America, Europe, North Africa and the Far East. Its main base is Basle-Mulhouse Airport (BSL), with a hub at Zurich Kloten Airport (ZRH).
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Code Data
Swiss International Air Lines uses the IATA Code LX, which it inherited from Crossair (Swissair's code was SR).
History
The airline was formed before the 2001 bankruptcy of Swissair, Switzerland's former flag carrier. The failed airline's biggest creditors, Credit Suisse and UBS, arranged to sell Swissair's assets to Crossair, the regional counterpart to the transatlantic Swissair (both Swissair and Crossair were under the same holding company, called SRGroup). Crossair then changed its name to Swiss, and the new national airline started its operations on March 31, 2002. The airline is owned by institutional investors (61.3%), Swiss Confederation (20.3%), cantons and communities (12.2%) and others (6.2%). Swiss also owns subsidiary companies Swiss Sun (100%) and Crossair Europe (99.9%). Employees total 5970.
After almost a year of disputes, Swiss was finally accepted in the oneworld Airline alliance, after having been blocked by British Airways, with which Swiss competes on many long-haul routes. On June 3, 2004, SWISS announced its decision not to join oneworld because SWISS didn't want to integrate its current frequent flyer program into oneworld's Executive Club.
On 22 March 2005 Lufthansa confirmed its plan to take over Swiss, starting with a minority stake (11%) of a new company set up to hold Swiss shares called Air Trust. The takeover is expected to be completed by 2007 and will see the Swiss operations gradually integrated with Lufthansa from late 2005. Star Alliance has accepted SWISS's entrance to take effect upon Lufthansa's takeover of the airline.
Services
Main article: Swiss International Air Lines destinations
Fleet
The Swiss International Air Lines consists of the following aircrafts (as of 2005):
Swissa340.jpg
- 7 Airbus A319-100
- 14 Airbus A320-200
- 4 Airbus A321-100
- 9 Airbus A330-200
- 9 Airbus A340-300
- 12 Embraer ERJ-145
- 15 BAe Avro RJ100ER
- 4 BAe Avro RJ85ER
- 8 Saab 2000
By the year 2006, Swiss plans to phase out the Avro RJ's, as well as the Saab 2000 aircrafts, with the introduction of the Embraer 170 (15 ordered) and Embraer 195 (15 ordered) which are currently undergoing final testing and certification.
External links
- Swiss International Air Lines (http://www.swiss.com/)
- Swiss International Air Lines Passenger Opinions (http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/swiss_air.htm)
- BBC article on the Lufthansa takeover (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4373227.stm)
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