Swissair

Swissair, formerly one of the worlds leading airlines stopped flying on March 31st, 2002 after more than 70 years of continued service all over the world. This Page is to remember Swissair!

1931

· Swissair formed on March 26 following the merger of Balair and Ad Astra.

1932

· Swissair becomes first European airline to introduce the Lockheed Orion American high-speed plane, and

inaugurates Basel-Zurich-Munich-Vienna express route using these aircraft.

1933

· Swissair links Switzerland to the European night air mail network with service between Basel and Frankfurt .

1934

· First air hostesses in Europe employed by Swissair.

1935

· Operations extended from summer season to all-year.

· Douglas DC-2 aircraft enter service.

1936

· First two DC-3 aircraft acquired.

1939

· Scheduled services suspended at end of August as war breaks out.

1945

· Scheduled services resumed.

1946

· Swissair buys four-engined DC-4.

1947

· Swissair designated national airline of Switzerland . 30 per cent of shares held by Swiss public institutions.

· Inauguration of DC-4 service to New York . Special flights to South America and South Africa .

1948

· Operations moved from Dübendorf to Kl**en Airport , their current location.

1949

· Scheduled North Atlantic services inaugurated between Switzerland and USA .

· Convair CV-240 joins aircraft fleet.

1951

· First two four-engined Douglas DC-6B aircraft delivered.

1954

· Scheduled services commence to South America .

1956

· First deliveries of two new aircraft types, the Convair CV-440 Metropolitan and the long-haul Douglas DC-7C.

1957

· Scheduled services inaugurated to the Far East .

· Services to South America extended to Buenos Aires , via Montevideo .

1958

· Cooperation agreement signed with SAS.

1960

· First DC-8 long-haul jets delivered.

· First four SE-210 Caravelles enter service.

1962

· Delivery of first five Convair CV-990 Coronado aircraft. Scheduled services introduced to West Africa .

· South American route network extended to Santiago de Chile.

1963

· Technical cooperation agreement concluded with Austrian Airlines.

· Services introduced to North Africa .

· SE-210 Caravelle HB-ICV crashes at Dürrenäsch, Canton Aargau, with the loss of 80 lives.

1964

· Last DC-3 aircraft withdrawn from revenue service.

· Zurich-Berne-Zurich flights discontinued.

1965

· Balair introduces trial service to Berne on Swissair's behalf, using Fokker Friendship equipment.

1966

· First DC-9s delivered.

1967

· Bearer shares issued for the first time. Staff numbers reach 10,000.

1968

· Swissair becomes third European carrier to operate an all-jet fleet.

· Services inaugurated to East and South Africa .

· Cooperation agreement with SAS renewed and extended to include KLM (KSS Group).

1969

· Order placed for six DC-10-30 widebody aircraft.

1970

· KSS extended to include French carrier UTA, resulting in the KSSU Consortium.

1971

· First Boeing 747B widebody aircraft delivered.

1972

· Night ban introduced at Swiss airports.

· First DC-10 delivered.

1973

· Order placed for ten DC-9-50 aircraft.

1974

· Last Convair CV-990 Coronados withdrawn from service.

1975

· Service added to Beijing , Shanghai , Toronto , Salzburg , Dhahran and Abu Dhabi . Terminal B opened at Zurich Airport .

1976

· Services added to Dubai , Oran and Kuwait .

1977

· New destinations: Sofia , Linz , Ankara .

· Order placed for 15 DC-9-81s (plus 5 options) and two DC-9-51s.

1978

· Services added to Oporto , Annaba , Jeddah.

· Order placed for two further DC-10-30s.

· Decision taken to change corporate design: arrow logo abandoned.

1979

· Order placed for ten Airbus A310s with ten options.

· Third Boeing 747 ordered.

1980

· Services initiated to Jakarta , Indonesia .

· New city rail link opened at Zurich Airport .

· Four additional Boeing 747s ordered, plus two DC-10-30s with extended-range capability.

· 100,000,000th passenger passes through Zurich Airport .

· First three DC-9-81s delivered.

1981

· Swissair celebrates 50th anniversary.

· Hotel Drake acquired in New York .

· Executive Vice President Technical and Operations Robert Staubli also named Deputy President. His predecessor as Deputy, Hans Schneider, is appointed Chairman of Swissair Associated Companies Ltd.

· Decision taken in favour of two-crew cockpit for A310.

· Swissair President Armin Baltensweiler elected President of IATA for 1981/82.

1982

· Five-year cooperation agreement signed with Swiss regional carrier Crossair.

· Scheduled service added to Nuremberg , Hanover and Thessaloniki .

· Swissair carries its 100,000,000th passenger.

· Chairman of the Board Fritz Gugelmann retires. Armin Baltensweiler appointed his successor, and Robert Staubli named President. Rolf Krähenbühl designated Executive Vice President Technical and Operations, and Paul Frei becomes Vice President Operations. Konrad Lindenmann named Vice President, Special Assignments and Cooperation Projects.

1983

· Marketing and Foreign Affairs merged in January to form a single organisation unit headed by Executive Vice President Bertrand Jaquiéry.

· Service added to Toulouse as 99th and Riyadh as 100th destinations.

· First short-haul Airbus A310-221 delivered.

· Flights to Beirut suspended.

· Services to Moscow suspended for 14 days in protest at the shooting down of a Korean Air Lines boeing 747.

· Non-stop service initiated to Rio de Janeiro .

· Services to Ankara withdrawn.

· Board approves introduction of Business Class.

· Hans Schneider, Chairman of the Board of Swissair Associated Companies Ltd., retires.

1984

· Martin Junger appointed Chairman of the Board of Swissair Associated Companies Ltd.

· Business Class introduced on all aircraft systemwide.

· Services to Annaba and Harare discontinued; Zurich-Larnaca route inaugurated.

· Last DC-8 withdrawn 24 years after first such aircraft entered service.

· Order announced for eight Fokker 100s and four DC-9-81s.

· Willi Schurter named Vice President Engineering and Maintenance.

· Share capital increased to CHF 568,324,400.

1985

· The Boston Lafayette hotel opens, becoming Swissôtel No. 5

· Gabriela Lüthi becomes Swissair's first woman pilot trainee.

· "Switzerland" corporate division restructured into two regional divisions: German and Italian-speaking Switzerland, headed by Kurt Schmid; and Western Switzerland, headed by André Clemmer and based in Geneva.

· Robert Eglauf appointed Vice President Branch Offices Abroad.

· Caracas becomes 99th destination in Swissair's network.

· New Terminal A pier opened at Zurich Airport .

· New uniform items introduced for women cabin personnel.

· Swissair takes delivery of first medium-haul Airbus A310-322.

1986

· Service inaugurated to eight new destinations: Anchorage , Ankara , Bahrain , Birmingham , Brazzaville , Malta , Seoul and Tirana.

· Two Airbus A310-322s and three DC-9-81s enter service; three DC-9-51s withdrawn.

· Deaths of three figures who played a major role in shaping Swissair's post-war development: Walter Berchtold (23.1.), Fritz Gugelmann (23.6.) and Heinz Haas (21.7.).

· Six hotels added to the Swissôtel group.

· President of the Swissair Airline also appointed Chairman of the Board of Swissair Associated Companies Ltd.

· Share capital increased to CHF 615,371,400; "Genussscheine", a form of dividend-right certificate, issued for the first time.

1987

· Order placed for 12 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijets with options on six more; 1 additional DC-9-81 ordered.

· Services commence to Atlanta , Swissair's fifth US gateway.

· Services withdrawn from Colombo , Dhahran, Dublin , Oran and Santiago ( Chile ).

· Services begin to Turin (operated by Crossair Saab 340).

· Rail station opened at Geneva Airport , providing rail link to downtown Geneva .

· Gabriela Lüthi begins career as first woman Swissair pilot.

· Swissair, British Airways, KLM and United Airlines (Covia) launch the Galileo computerised global distribution system.

· Peter König appointed Vice President Information Systems. Peter Graf takes charge of Product Development and Sales Policy.

· Services to Bahrain withdrawn.

· Bertrand Jaquiéry (Marketing) and Konrad Lindenmann (Cooperation Projects) retire.

1988

· Eight Fokker 100 short-haul aircraft enter service, along with three more DC-9-81s (now redesignated MD-81).

· DC-9-32 HB-IFH makes final revenue flight in Swissair colours after 20 years service, bringing Swissair's DC-9-32 and -51 era to a close. Entire fleet now capable of Category 3 landings in minimum visibility.

· Service introduced to Graz , Bordeaux and Catania ; service to Khartoum discontinued.

· Swiss National Councillor Verena Spoerry becomes first woman to be elected to the board of Directors.

· New corporate organisation introduced on August 1: Otto Loepfe succeeds Robert Staubli as Company President, heading a Corporate Management that comprises himself, the heads of the eleven corporate divisions, and two Delegates to the President. Vice Presidents Heinz Büchi, André Clemmer, Alfons Bernhardsgrütter and Heinz Galli retire in the course of the year. Paul Reutlinger and Stephan Fröhlich appointed to Corporate Management

· Swissair acquires holdings in Crossair (38%), Covia (11.3%) and Austrian Airlines (3%).

· Check-in introduced for Swissair passengers at major Swiss rail stations; Fly/Rail Baggage service also introduced for travellers to and from Switzerland .

· New cargo hall and baggage sorting facility opened in Geneva .

1989

· Wide-ranging cooperation agreements concluded with three partner carriers: Delta Air Lines (March), SAS (September) and Singapore Airlines (December).

· Extraordinary General Assembly of Shareholders votes on September 12 to increase share capital to CHF 709,171,750 to allow 5% cross-equity investment with Delta Air Lines.

· Swissair, Lufthansa and Guinness Peat Aviation (GPA) undertake to jointly construct and operate an aircraft maintenance facility at Shannon , Ireland .

· Service introduced to six new destinations: Lyon (March 27), Izmir and Ljubljana (March 28), Santiago (July 31), Gothenburg (October 29) and Los Angeles (November 1).

· First Zurich-Tokyo flight operated via Siberia (June 28).

· Swissair's "Go West" film awarded first prize at the "Internationale Tourismusmesse", Berlin .

1990

· Swissair Board of Directors decides to order 26 Airbus A320/A321s with options on a further 26.

· Hannes Goetz nominated to succeed Armin Baltensweiler as Chairman of the Board from spring 1992.

· Austrian Airlines, Finnair, SAS and Swissair announce the formation of their European Quality Alliance (EQA).

· Erich Geitlinger is named full-time Deputy President; Paul Maximilian Müller becomes head of the External Relations division.

· Flying and ground-services staff get a new uniform, created by Swiss designer Luigi Colani.

· "Centre Swissair" opened at Geneva 's Cointrin Airport .

· Philadelphia, Berlin , Valencia and Bilbao added to the network.

· Two major undertakings launched: the MAKO Marketing Concept and the MOVE program to enhance bottom-line results.

1991

· Philippe Bruggisser succeeds Rolf Krähenbühl as President of Swissair Associated Companies. Rolf Winiger succeeds Paul Frei as head of Swissair's Flight Services division.

· Peter Nydegger is appointed Chairman of the Board of Swissair Associated Companies Ltd.

· Swissair acquires majority voting rights in regional carrier Crossair.

· Singapore Airlines and Swissair conduct an equity cross-purchase: Swissair acquires 0.62% of SIA, while SIA obtains a 2.77% holding in Swissair.

· Swissair becomes the world's first airline to produce a full-scale environmental audit.

· Swissair and Austrian Airlines begin joint service to Kiev and St. Petersburg . Bordeaux is transferred to Crossair's route network.

· Services to Jakarta and Anchorage discontinued.

· Delhi becomes Swissair's second destination in India .

· Jürg Marx joins Swissair as head of Human Resources and Organisation, succeeding W***y Walser.

· Finnair withdraws from the European Quality Alliance (EQA).

· Services to Nuremberg revert to Crossair.

· First McDonnellDouglas MD-11 arrives in Zurich .

1992

· Dr. Hannes Goetz succeeds Armin Baltensweiler as Chairman of the Board.

· Swissair sells its equity stake in Kuoni Travel.

· Last commercial flight by a DC-10 in Swissair livery.

· Swissair Terminal at Zurich Airport opens.

· Martin Junger, Delegate to the President, retires.

· Stephan Fröhlich, head of Corporate Development, leaves the company.

· Top management reorganised into a seven-member Executive Management (Otto Loepfe, President; Erich Geitlinger, Deputy President; Paul Reutlinger, Marketing; Rolf Winiger, Technical and Operations; Jürg Marx, Human Resources and Organisation; Paul Maximilian Müller, External Relations; Peter Nydegger, Finances) and a Corporate Management consisting of all the above plus the heads of the remaining corporate divisions.

· Armin Baltensweiler appointed Honorary Chairman of Swissair.

· All cargo operations amalgamated into a separate corporate division headed by Ernst Funk.

· Peter Graf, head of Marketing Services and Kurt Schmid, head of Market Europe I, retire.

1993

· Services launched to Harare (June 29), Cape Town (July 2), Muscat (November 6). Services to Köln/Bonn (March 27) and Vilnius (July 4) discontinued.

· The Board of Directors appoints three new division heads: Alain D. Bandle (Product Development and Distribution), Hans Eisele (Information Systems) and Hans Ulrich Beyeler (Engineering and Maintenance). W***y Schurter retires as Head of Engineering and Maintenance.

· Legal autonomy granted to Gate Gourmet (catering), Restorama (staff restaurants) and Nuance Trading (duty-free retail, on-board sales). The three companies are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Swissair associated Companies, Ltd. (SAC).

· New Business Class for Europe introduced.

· Shareholders of Balair and CTA vote in favour of merger.

· In a public referendum, voters in Canton Zurich reject by a two-to-one margin a proposal to impose further restrictions on airport operations.

1994

· Service begins to Osaka on September 4.

· Scheduled services resumed to Beirut and Belgrade .

· Service withdrawn from Rio de Janeiro and Minsk .

· Deputy President Erich Geitlinger retires.

1995

· Swissair adopts a group corporate structure. Group Executive Management consists of Otto Loepfe (President & CEO), Rolf Winiger (Flight Operations), Paul Reutlinger (Marketing & Ground Services), Jürg Marx (Logistics & Cargo and Human Resources & Organization), Philippe Bruggisser (Swissair Associated Companies Ltd.) and Peter Nydegger (Finance & Corporate Development).

· The Swissair Board of Directors appoints Georges P. Schorderet as its future Chief Financial Officer, Peter Somaglia as the new Vice President Cargo, Stephan Egli as Vice President Product Development & Distribution and Max Michel as Vice President Corporate Development.

· Paul Maximilian Müller, Executive Vice President External Relations, and Robert Eglauf, Vice President Market Intercontinental, retire. Bandle, head of the Swissair/Sabena project, leaves the company.

· Scheduled services initiated to Krakow on March 26.

· Scheduled service begins on a Vienna-Geneva-Washington routing on March 26 in a trilateral joint-venture operation between Swissair, Austrian Airlines and Delta Air Lines.

· Swissair Asia (a Swissair subsidiary) begins scheduled services to Taipei on April 7.

· Swissair takes delivery of its first Airbus A321 on January 25.

· Open Sky agreement concluded between Switzerland and the United States .

· Swissair Board of Directors resolves to incorporate the charter operations of Balair/CTA into Swissair (long-haul) and Crossair (short-haul). Swissair transfers its remaining scheduled services with aircraft of up to 100 seats to Crossair's operation.

· Swissair serves notice to terminate the current Collective Working Agreement with the Aeropers cockpit-crew association.

· Swissair, Sabena and the Belgian government sign an agreement laying the foundations for closer collaboration between the two airlines. Swissair acquires a 49.5-per-cent holding in Sabena.

· Swissair and Transwede conclude a cooperation accord.

· Otto Loepfe is elected President of IATA.

1996

· Swissair, Austrian Airlines, Sabena and Delta Air Lines are granted anti-trust immunity by the US authorities, enabling them to collaborate more closely without violating the country’s strict legislation on anti-competitive practices.

· Further units within the Swissair Group are spun off into separate companies: Atraxis (information systems), SR Technics (engineering and maintenance), Swissport (ground handling) and SAirLogistics (cargo).

· Swissair acquires an equity holding in Ukraine International Airlines.

· Extensive restructuring of the entire Swissair Group, with major reductions in personnel numbers.

· Swissair acquires an equity holding in Ukraine International Airlines.

· Swissair introduces non-smoking on all European flights.

· Fokker 100 era comes to an end.

· Order placed for nine Airbus A330 aircraft (the -200 version) to replace the A310-300s.

1997

· Austrian Airlines, Sabena, Delta Air Lines and Swissair launch "Atlantic Excellence", an extensive collaborative partnership with joint networks and operations between Europe and North America .

· Service to Brazzaville suspended.

· Services introduced to Sarajevo , Ho Chi Minh City and Kuala Lumpur , the last in a codeshare operation with Malaysia Airlines.

· Philippe Bruggisser succeeds Otto Loepfe as President and CEO of the newly-renamed Swissair Group.

· Jeffrey G. Katz becomes Chief Operating Officer of Swissair

· The Swissair Group adopts a genuine holding structure and a new corporate name: the Swissair Group. The new structure comprises a small holding company -- Swissair Group -- responsible for overall group concerns (finances, corporate development, personnel policy and communications) and four corporate divisions: SAirLines, for all pure-airline activities, including Swissair and Crossair; SAirServices, with its subsidiaries Swissport (ground handling), SR Technics (engineering and maintenance) and Avireal (facility management); SAirLogistics, for all cargo and logistics interests, including Swisscargo (air cargo capacity marketing), Cargologic (cargo handling and distribution) and Jetlogistics (airline catering logistics support); and SAirRelations, formerly Swissair Associated Companies and home to Swissôtel (hotel management), Gate Gourmet (airline catering), Rail Gourmet (train catering), Restorama (institutional catering) and Nuance International (travel retail).

· Orders placed for nine Airbus A340s (the -600 version), six further A330-200s and one additional A321.

1998

· Jeffrey G. Katz becomes Chief Executive Officer on January 1.

· Founding of the Qualiflyer Group alliance consisting of ten airlines: Swissair, Austrian Airlines, Sabena, TAP Air Portugal , Turkish Airlines, AOM, Crossair, Lauda Air, Tyrolean Airways and Air Littoral.

· Founding of an alliance of holiday and leisure-travel airlines consisting of Balair/CTA Leisure, Sobelair, LTU, Air Europe and Volare.

· Founding of the Swissair Aviation School , Gourmet Nova and Flightlease.

· The"Genussscheine" (dividend-bearing, non-voting-rights certificate) is abolished.

· Route-specific cooperation agreements signed with JAL, Cathay Pacific, Malaysian, Qantas and South African Airways.

· Swissair introduced a general smoking ban on it entire route network.

· New destinations: Jakarta , Paris-Orly (codeshare with AOM), Baku , Samara (suspended in October), Tbilisi , Riga , Yerevan , San Francisco , Skopje , Venice (codeshare with Air One), Bologna (codeshare with Air One), Malabo , Ankara (codeshare with Turkish Airlines) and Sydney (codeshare with Qantas).

· Launch of Swissair Express (to Bologna and Venice , operated by Debonair).

· First A330-200 enters revenue service.

· Boeing MD-11 HB-IWF, carrying flight number SR 111 crashes into the sea off the coast of Nova Scotia while en-route from New York to Geneva . All 215 passengers and 14 crew die.

· Former Swissair CEO Otto Loepfe dies at the age of 62.

1999

· Gaby Musy-Lüthi becomes the first woman captain in Swissair's history.

· Swissair operates its first flight with an all-female cockpit crew.

· Scheduled services to Bamako ( Mali ) withdrawn.

· Services to Belgrade , Skopje , Sarajevo and Tirana suspended as the Kosovo crisis erupts.

· Scheduled services withdrawn on the Dakar and Banjul routes.

· Summer schedules begin, bringing a new Zurich-London (Stansted) service franchised out to Flightline and a resumption of service to Kinshasa .

· Swissair resumes scheduled services to Libya on the Zurich-Tripoli route after a seven-year break.

· Swissair service reinstated on the Zurich-Cologne route.

· Swissair opens a second Libyan route between Zurich and Benghazi .

· The boards of Sabena and Swissair Group give the green light to Project Diamond, the plan to create a new airline management company for Swissair and Sabena. The new entity is scheduled to commence its operations on June 1, 2000.

· Swissair and Sabena announce a transatlantic cooperation with American Airlines, in response to Delta Air Lines' decision (announced on the same day) to work more closely with Air France .

· The last Airbus A310, HB-IPN, leaves the Swissair fleet after performing its final flight (SR 119 Newark-Basel-Zurich). The departure brings down the curtain on 16 years of Swissair service for the type without accident or major incident.

· MD-11 HB-IWD performs Swissair's first scheduled Zurich-Miami flight - one day later than planned, as a result of Hurricane Floyd.

· Austrian Airlines announces its intention to leave the Qualiflyer Group and join the Star Alliance.

· Debonair, which has been operating services for Swissair Express, ceases its flight operations.

· The CEOs of Swissair, Sabena, Austrian Airlines and Delta Air Lines decide to disband the Atlantic Excellence alliance with effect from August 5, 2000.

· The new Swissair First Class long-haul product is presented in Montreux.

· Flightline assumes operating responsibility for Swissair Express services to Italy and Manchester .

· Swissair winter schedules begin: services to Jakarta , Riga and Stansted withdrawn, but new services introduced on the Zurich-Washington and Zurich-Bergamo routes, the latter operated by Gandalf Airlines.

· Swissair opens a new Zurich-Mauritius route operated by Balair Boeing 767.

· The new Swissair First Class long-haul product takes to the skies for the first time aboard MD-11 HB-IWN.

· Swissair, Sabena and American Airlines announce their conclusion of a ten-year cooperation agreement, and apply to the US Department of Transportation for anti-trust immunity (granted in May 2000). All services between Switzerland/Belgium and Boston , Chicago , Miami and Washington switch to codeshare operations from November 21.