SWISSAIR

Swissair was founded in 1931 as the merger between the Zurich airline company Ad Astra Aero and Balair from Basel. Swissair soon gained prestige as the first European airline company to use faster aeroplane types in 1932 and to offer on-board service with stewardesses in 1934. Soon it flew to ten European metropolises, providing for the integration of the Swiss economy in the international network. Swissair made cooperation agreements with SAS in 1958 and with Delta Airlines and Singapore Airlines in 1989. Problems for Swissair began with the first Gulf War in 1991 and the Swiss people’s refusal in the 1992 vote to enter the European Economic Area, which prevented Swissair from entering freely into the European market. In 1994, the “Hunter strategy” was defined with the aim of putting Swissair at the head of the fourth largest European airline alliance by acquiring shares of other European airline companies. In the following years, Swissair purchased shares of the Italian Volare, the German LTU, the French Air Littoral and AOM and the Polish LOT. In 2000, SAirGroup had a profit of 200 million Swiss Francs. However, financial analyses discovered a financing gap of several billion Swiss Francs. Exit scenarios for the airline shares were prepared and in 2001 SAirGroup abandoned the Hunter strategy with which over 5 billion Swiss Francs had been spent, and the entire board of directors resigned. The loss of almost 3 billion Swiss Francs for 2000, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and years of mismanagement led to Swissair’s grounding in October 2001. In 2002 the new national airline, SWISS, was founded with private and state finances. It was taken over by Lufthansa in 2005. In 2018, SWISS’ network includes 80 destinations in Europe and 25 outside of Europe and its profit for the year 2018 was 636 million Swiss Francs. Today, Swiss is a successful and profitable airline and can be proud to rank amongst the best airlines worldwide.

Swissair was founded in 1931 as the merger between the Zurich airline company Ad Astra Aero and Balair from Basel. Swissair soon gained prestige as the first European airline ...

company to use faster aeroplane types in 1932 and to offer on-board service with stewardesses in 1934. Soon it flew to ten European metropolises, providing for the integration of the Swiss economy in the international network. Swissair made cooperation agreements with SAS in 1958 and with Delta Airlines and Singapore Airlines in 1989. Problems for Swissair began with the first Gulf War in 1991 and the Swiss people’s refusal in the 1992 vote to enter the European Economic Area, which prevented Swissair from entering freely into the European market. In 1994, the “Hunter strategy” was defined with the aim of putting Swissair at the head of the fourth largest European airline alliance by acquiring shares of other European airline companies. In the following years, Swissair purchased shares of the Italian Volare, the German LTU, the French Air Littoral and AOM and the Polish LOT. In 2000, SAirGroup had a profit of 200 million Swiss Francs. However, financial analyses discovered a financing gap of several billion Swiss Francs. Exit scenarios for the airline shares were prepared and in 2001 SAirGroup abandoned the Hunter strategy with which over 5 billion Swiss Francs had been spent, and the entire board of directors resigned. The loss of almost 3 billion Swiss Francs for 2000, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and years of mismanagement led to Swissair’s grounding in October 2001. In 2002 the new national airline, SWISS, was founded with private and state finances. It was taken over by Lufthansa in 2005. In 2018, SWISS’ network includes 80 destinations in Europe and 25 outside of Europe and its profit for the year 2018 was 636 million Swiss Francs. Today, Swiss is a successful and profitable airline and can be proud to rank amongst the best airlines worldwide.