(short: ''Swiss'') is the principal
Airline of
Switzerland operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Its main hub is
Zurich Kloten Airport (ZRH).
Swiss International Air Lines uses the
IATA Code LX, which it inherited from the Swiss regional airline
Crossair (
Swissair 's code was SR).
The
ICAO code is SWR, inherited from
Swissair (Crossair's was CRX), in order to keep international traffic rights.
Swiss is a subsidiary of the
German Airline Lufthansa .
The airline was formed after the 2001 bankruptcy of
Swissair , Switzerland's former
Flag Carrier . The failed airline's biggest creditors,
Credit Suisse and
UBS , arranged to sell part of Swissair's assets to Crossair, the regional counterpart to the transatlantic Swissair (both Swissair and Crossair were under the same holding company, called
SAirGroup ). Crossair later changed its name to Swiss, and the new national airline started its operations officially on
March 31 ,
2002 . The airline was first 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 into 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 they did not want to integrate their current
Frequent Flyer Program into
British Airways '
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 . The takeover is expected to be completed by 2007 and will see the Swiss operations gradually integrated with Lufthansa from late 2005. Swiss joined
Star Alliance on
1 April 2006 , when it also became a member of Lufthansa's
Miles & More frequent flyer program.
The airline has set up a
Regional Airline subsidiary called
Swiss European Air Lines . This carrier has its own air operator's certificate and operates a non-Airbus fleet.
See Also: Swiss International Air Lines destinations
Following the addition of 2
Airbus A330 to the fleet from the end of 2006, Swiss is planning to increase long haul service as follows:
Following the addition of 3
Airbus A340 to the fleet starting in the middle of 2007, Swiss is planning to increase long haul service as follows:
Also, new routes to be launched:
The airline announced a major expansion at
EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in an attempt to win back market share from budget airlines using the airport. On January 14, 2007 services were launched to
Barcelona ,
Budapest ,
Manchester ,
Nice ,
Prague and
Warsaw , in addition to existing services to
Amsterdam ,
Brussels ,
London and
Zurich Airliner World , February 2007.
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Aside from codeshares with
Star Alliance partners, Swiss codeshares with the following carriers:
The Swiss International Air Lines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of March 2007):
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- Business Class offered on Airbus A330/A340 aircraft.
- --- operated by Swiss European Air Lines Ltd.
The average age of the Swiss International Air Lines fleet is 8 years (2006)
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- The aircraft fleet is to be renamed after local towns and cities over the next two years. The names will be featured on the aircraft fuselage, with cabin interiors showing the coat of arms of the town or city. The latest fleet addition, an Airbus A330 , is the first to follow this scheme, as Berne . Airliner World January 2007
- Six to increase frequencies on existing routes and to launch new routes for summer 2008 .
- Two Airbus A330 aircraft are also being added to the fleet. The first one will replace an Airbus A300-600 in November 2006 which was leased from Hapag-Lloyd, and the second in mid-December 2006, both to increase route frequencies.
- The short haul fleet is also expected to expand with plans confirmed in September 2006 to add two Airbus A321 and one Airbus A320 aircraft. To avail the market chances, Swiss announced that they plan to add 2 additional Airbus A320 aircraft to their fleet earlier than planned. The aircraft will be added in autumn 2007.
