Swissair | Swiss Internationl Airlines

Swissair (Swiss Air Transport Company Limited) was the former national airline of Switzerland. Swissair was formed from a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero in 1931. Swissair for most of its 71 years was one of the major international airlines and known as the flying bank due to the financial stability of the airline, causing it to be regarded as a Swiss national symbol and icon. Swissair was headquartered at Zurich Airport and in Kloten. Swissair Group In 1997 was renamed SAirGroup, with four subdivisions: SAirlines (to which Swissair and Crossair belonged), SAirServices, SAirLogistics and SAirRelations.

After swiss air's expansive "Hunter strategy" in the late 1990s and after the economic turndown following the September 11 attacks, Swissair's assets dramatically lost value, grounding the already-troubled airline in October 2001. The swiss air was kept alive until 31 March 2002 by the Swiss Federal government. On 1 April 2002 the successor carrier Swiss International Air Lines was founded on the base of former Cross Air, taking over most of the routes, planes and staff of former swissair. Currently the SAirGroup company still exists and is in the process of being liquidated.In 2005 Swiss International Air Lines was taken over by the German airline Lufthansa.

In 2002 Swiss International Air Lines was born. First called Swiss Airlines, was based on the former Crossair, and was basically a merger of Crossair and former "Swissair" employees, routes and aircraft. Swissair continued to exist in liquidation, but had no further assets. Due to legal problems with Swissair, the name had to be changed to Swiss International AirLines. Swiss Air Lines took over 26 longhaul and 26 medium haul Aircraft from the Swissair fleet and refurbished the liveries to turn it into the new Swiss Airline fleet, together with the former Crossair Fleet consisting of Embraer 145, Saab 2000, MD-80 Series and Avro RJ. A subsidiary called Swiss European Air Lines was founded which belongs 100% to Swiss International Air Lines.

It appeared in 2004 that Swiss Airlines was going to become a member of the Oneworld alliance. It had codeshares with Oneworld carriers British Airways, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airlines, Qantas Airlines, Aer Lingus and Finnair, and held a strategic partnership and joint operation for all service to North America and AA-operated flights beyond U.S. gateways using American Airlines. SwissAir started to terminate these codeshare agreements, but did not terminate the AA alliance. A theory emerged that Swiss was planning to use its partnerships, the AA alliance, and its partnership with British Airways, a strong supportive member of Oneworld, to join Oneworld itself.

In March 2005 Swiss Airlines was taken over by the German Lufthansa Group and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, the flag airline of Germany. With the merger with Lufthansa, Swissair joined the Star Alliance. With this move, Swiss's frequent flyer club, Swissair TravelClub became part of Miles & More, which was originally the Lufthansa frequent flyer club. It acts as both airlines' frequent flyer programme, along with many other airlines.