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{{Infobox_Airline |airline=Swiss International Air Lines|logo=swiss_logo.png|logo_size=150px|fleet_size=73(17 on order)|destinations=70|IATA=LX|ICAO=SWR|callsign=SWISS|parent=
Lufthansa|founded=2001 after bankruptcy of
Swissair, [Switzerland)|hubs=[Zurich International Airport|frequent_flyer=[Miles & More|website= http://www.swiss.com|-->
Swiss International Air Lines (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 International 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 Germany
airline Lufthansa.
History
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 AG, 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
Air Trust. 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. The two independently operating divisions Swiss AviationTraining and Swiss WorldCargo are also owned by Swiss.
Destinations
New routes and added frequencies
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:
- Zurich - Tokyo - daily
- Zurich - Cairo - daily
- Zurich - Johannesburg - daily
- Zurich - Los Angeles - daily
- Zurich - São Paulo-Santiago, Chile - daily
Also, new routes to be launched:
- Zürich - New Delhi - Will be a daily service operated by airbus A330-200 aircraft
- Zürich - Shanghai - Will be a daily service operated by airbus A340 aircraft
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 ZurichAirliner World, February 2007.
On September 19, 2007 SWISS announced a further expansion of its network with the fallowing routes and destinations:
- Zürich - Berlin - increasing from 3 to 4 daily rotations (begins October 28, 2007)
- Zürich - Florence - Will be 3 daily services operated by Airbus 320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Zürich - Sofia - Will be a daily service operated by Airbus A320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Zürich - Saint Petersburg - Will be a daily service operated by Airbus A320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Geneva - Manchester - Will be a weekly service (begins December 16, 2007)
- Geneva - Bucharest - Will be 3 weekly services (begins March 2008)
Code share partners
Aside from codeshares with Star Alliance partners, Swiss codeshares with the following carriers:
- Adria Airways - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Ljubljana flights.
- Air Canada - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Toronto flights. Connecting flights via Toronto/Montreal to Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec.
- Air France - Codeshare agreement on Geneva–Paris Charles de Gaulle flights.
- Air One - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Napoli and Catania flights.
- All Nippon Airways - Codeshare agreement on SWISS Zurich–Tokyo flights.
- Austrian Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Austria.
- Blue1 - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Helsinki flights.
- Brussels Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Belgium.
- Cirrus Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Dresden and Zurich–Salzburg flights.
- Croatia Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Zagreb flights.
- Darwin Airline - Operates flights Zurich–Lugano on behalf of SWISS.
- Egyptair - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Egypt.
- El Al - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Tel Aviv and Geneva–Tel Aviv flights.
- LOT Polish Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Poland.
- Lufthansa - On several flights between Germany and Switzerland and on selected European and intercontinental connections.
- Malaysia Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Kuala Lumpur flights.
- MAT Macedonian Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Skopje flights.
- PrivatAir - PrivatAir operates on behalf of Swiss on all flights between Zurich International Airport and Newark International Airport in an all-business class Boeing Boeing 737 56-seat configuration.
- Qatar Airways - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Doha flights.
- Scandinavian Airlines System - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Sweden, Denmark, Norway and selected beyond routes via Copenhagen gateway.
- South African Airways - Codeshare agreement on connecting flights via Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban and Windhoek.
- Ukraine International Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich-Kiev flights.
- Spanair - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Spain.
- TAP Portugal - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Portugal.
- Thai Airways International - Codeshare agreement on all flights between Switzerland and Thailand.
- United Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all flights between Switzerland and the US and on selected European and US connections.
Fleet
The Swiss International Air Lines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of September 2007):{| class="toccolours sortable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"|+
Swiss International Air Lines Fleet|- bgcolor=lightgrey!Aircraft!Total!Passengers
(First/Business*/Economy)!Notes|-|
Airbus A319|7|110 (75/35)||-|Airbus A320|17
4 on order|136 (54/72)|2 will be added to fleet in 2008, the other two in 2011/2012.|-|Airbus A321|6|170 (76/94)||-|
Airbus A330#A330-200|11|230 (48/182)
229 (42/187)
196 (12/42/142)|http://www.aerospacemedia.com/site/afp.php?Id=070820072142.0o58at3b.xml News release 2 are ex-Lufthansa aircraft.
The 2 oldest ones will be replaced with ex-Air Canada Airbus A340#A340-300 series.|-|Airbus A330#A330-300|9 orders||Will replace the remaining A330-220 aircrafts. Delivery starts in 2009.|-|
Airbus A340#A340-300 series|11
(4 orders)|228 (8/48/172)||-|BAe 146**|20|97 (40/57)||-|BAe 146**|2||-|}*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)
- 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 Airbus A340 aircraft are to be added to the fleet. The first of which is an ex-Air Canada plane. Three more ex-Air Canada A340s are to be added along with two ex-Austrian Airlines 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 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.
- On 20 September 2007, Lufthansa confirmed an order for 41 aircraft for Swiss. " Lufthansa to order 41 Airbuses including nine A330s for Swiss" Flight Global, 20/09/07 The order includes 32 A320 famliy aircraft, including two outstanding A320 orders and the 9 orders for A330 aircraft.
Gallery
Image:Airbus-SWISS.jpg|
Airbus Airbus A320,
Airbus A319 and
Airbus A330 at Zürich International AirportImage:swiss.a321-112.hb-ioh.750pix.jpg]Image:Swiss Air - Zurich - 2005.JPG|
Airbus Airbus A340 at Zürich International Airport
External links
- Official website
- Swiss WorldCargo - Cargo Operations
- BBC article on the Lufthansa takeover
- History of Swiss and Swissair
- Star Alliance
- Swissair and Swiss Fan Site
References
{{Infobox_Airline |airline=Swiss International Air Lines|logo=swiss_logo.png|logo_size=150px|fleet_size=73(17 on order)|destinations=70|IATA=LX|ICAO=SWR|callsign=SWISS|parent=Lufthansa|founded=2001 after bankruptcy of
Swissair, [Switzerland)|hubs=[Zurich International Airport|frequent_flyer=[Miles & More|website= http://www.swiss.com|-->
Swiss International Air Lines (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 International 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
Germany airline Lufthansa.
History
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 AG, 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
Air Trust. 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. The two independently operating divisions Swiss AviationTraining and
Swiss WorldCargo are also owned by Swiss.
Destinations
New routes and added frequencies
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:
- Zürich - New Delhi - Will be a daily service operated by airbus A330-200 aircraft
- Zürich - Shanghai - Will be a daily service operated by airbus A340 aircraft
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
ZurichAirliner World, February 2007.
On September 19, 2007 SWISS announced a further expansion of its network with the fallowing routes and destinations:
- Zürich - Berlin - increasing from 3 to 4 daily rotations (begins October 28, 2007)
- Zürich - Florence - Will be 3 daily services operated by Airbus 320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Zürich - Sofia - Will be a daily service operated by Airbus A320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Zürich - Saint Petersburg - Will be a daily service operated by Airbus A320 aircraft (begins March 2008)
- Geneva - Manchester - Will be a weekly service (begins December 16, 2007)
- Geneva - Bucharest - Will be 3 weekly services (begins March 2008)
Code share partners
Aside from codeshares with Star Alliance partners, Swiss codeshares with the following carriers:
- Adria Airways - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Ljubljana flights.
- Air Canada - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Toronto flights. Connecting flights via Toronto/Montreal to Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, Ottawa, Quebec.
- Air France - Codeshare agreement on Geneva–Paris Charles de Gaulle flights.
- Air One - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Napoli and Catania flights.
- All Nippon Airways - Codeshare agreement on SWISS Zurich–Tokyo flights.
- Austrian Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Austria.
- Blue1 - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Helsinki flights.
- Brussels Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Belgium.
- Cirrus Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Dresden and Zurich–Salzburg flights.
- Croatia Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Zagreb flights.
- Darwin Airline - Operates flights Zurich–Lugano on behalf of SWISS.
- Egyptair - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Egypt.
- El Al - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Tel Aviv and Geneva–Tel Aviv flights.
- LOT Polish Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Poland.
- Lufthansa - On several flights between Germany and Switzerland and on selected European and intercontinental connections.
- Malaysia Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Kuala Lumpur flights.
- MAT Macedonian Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Skopje flights.
- PrivatAir - PrivatAir operates on behalf of Swiss on all flights between Zurich International Airport and Newark International Airport in an all-business class Boeing Boeing 737 56-seat configuration.
- Qatar Airways - Codeshare agreement on Zurich–Doha flights.
- Scandinavian Airlines System - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Sweden, Denmark, Norway and selected beyond routes via Copenhagen gateway.
- South African Airways - Codeshare agreement on connecting flights via Johannesburg to Cape Town, Durban and Windhoek.
- Ukraine International Airlines - Codeshare agreement on Zurich-Kiev flights.
- Spanair - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Spain.
- TAP Portugal - Codeshare agreement on all routes between Switzerland and Portugal.
- Thai Airways International - Codeshare agreement on all flights between Switzerland and Thailand.
- United Airlines - Codeshare agreement on all flights between Switzerland and the US and on selected European and US connections.
Fleet
The Swiss International Air Lines fleet includes the following aircraft (as of September 2007):{| class="toccolours sortable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse"|+
Swiss International Air Lines Fleet|- bgcolor=lightgrey!Aircraft!Total!Passengers
(First/Business*/Economy)!Notes|-|Airbus A319|7|110 (75/35)||-|
Airbus A320|17
4 on order|136 (54/72)|2 will be added to fleet in 2008, the other two in 2011/2012.|-|Airbus A321|6|170 (76/94)||-|
Airbus A330#A330-200|11|230 (48/182)
229 (42/187)
196 (12/42/142)|http://www.aerospacemedia.com/site/afp.php?Id=070820072142.0o58at3b.xml News release 2 are ex-Lufthansa aircraft.
The 2 oldest ones will be replaced with ex-Air Canada
Airbus A340#A340-300 series.|-|Airbus A330#A330-300|9 orders||Will replace the remaining A330-220 aircrafts. Delivery starts in 2009.|-|Airbus A340#A340-300 series|11
(4 orders)|228 (8/48/172)||-|BAe 146**|20|97 (40/57)||-|
BAe 146**|2||-|}*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)
- 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 Airbus A340 aircraft are to be added to the fleet. The first of which is an ex-Air Canada plane. Three more ex-Air Canada A340s are to be added along with two ex-Austrian Airlines 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 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.
- On 20 September 2007, Lufthansa confirmed an order for 41 aircraft for Swiss. " Lufthansa to order 41 Airbuses including nine A330s for Swiss" Flight Global, 20/09/07 The order includes 32 A320 famliy aircraft, including two outstanding A320 orders and the 9 orders for A330 aircraft.
Gallery
Image:Airbus-SWISS.jpg|
Airbus Airbus A320, Airbus A319 and Airbus A330 at
Zürich International AirportImage:swiss.a321-112.hb-ioh.750pix.jpg]Image:Swiss Air - Zurich - 2005.JPG|Airbus
Airbus A340 at Zürich International Airport
External links
- Official website
- Swiss WorldCargo - Cargo Operations
- BBC article on the Lufthansa takeover
- History of Swiss and Swissair
- Star Alliance
- Swissair and Swiss Fan Site
References
Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.
SWISS is Switzerland’s national airline, flying to 70 destinations around the world. Visit SWISS.COM for special offers, flight schedules and general information.
Swiss International Air Lines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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