Swissair

The Swiss government gave collapsed Swissair Group a hefty cash injection Wednesday to get its planes flying again after a cash crunch grounded the flag carrier and stranded thousands of passengers. Swissair Chairman Mario Corti said the $280-million credit--unlikely ever to be repaid--will allow Swissair flights to resume today. The deal was struck after a round of emergency meetings with top government officials and leading banks. But the group's future remained bleak.

Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. plans to cut 3,000 jobs as the national carrier that emerged from the remains of insolvent Swissair Group struggles to survive. The airline will eliminate a third of its workforce and ground 34 out of 109 aircraft, Chief Executive Andre Dose said at a briefing in Basel, Switzerland. Swiss International may sell shares and bonds to raise $376 million, more than its market value of $329.2 million.

Swissair Group said its fleet will stay grounded today after Europe's seventh-largest airline ran out of cash. It received $160.4 million credit from UBS and Credit Suisse Group as part of a rescue package. Swissair canceled 262 flights Tuesday, stranding about 19,000 passengers, it said, and will decide today whether it can resume flights Thursday. "We try our best," spokeswoman Christine Buhler said.

The Swiss parliament approved the government's $1.2-billion contribution to a rescue package for part of national airline Swissair Group, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Both houses backed the plan to save as much as two-thirds of Swissair's fleet by shifting it to regional carrier Crossair. The assembly met for an extraordinary two-day session after the government stepped in last month to forestall the airline's collapse.

The co-pilot of Swissair Flight 111 suggested ignoring the rules and landing swiftly in the minutes before the plane crashed, but the pilot wanted to follow standard procedure for dumping fuel, the Wall Street Journal has reported. Canadian investigators and Swissair officials refused to comment on the report. Some experts have contended that a prompt landing could have averted the disaster.

British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and other European carriers say they oppose a government-backed rescue of Swissair Group. Switzerland's government, biggest companies and wealthiest people agreed to put up $2.5 billion to keep Swissair flying. Rivals say the cash puts Swissair at a competitive advantage when the entire industry is suffering as air travel falls after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Swissair hopes to operate more than half of its flights in the next two days, including at least 47 long-haul flights. After days of recriminations about last week's grounding of the airline, Swissair leaders and unions for the first time said they would be willing to cooperate with a new airline, to be led by the Crossair regional airline and kept afloat by money from banking giants UBS and the Credit Suisse Group.

Swissair has voluntarily shut down the high-tech entertainment systems in the luxury cabins of its Boeing 747 and MD-11 jetliners after a Canadian probe of the Sept. 2 crash of one of its planes found heat-damaged wires connecting the system, the company said Thursday.

Salvage crews have recovered the last of Swissair Flight 111's three engines from the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia. A heavy-lift vessel recovered the engine. It was not clear if one gauge that could give investigators crucial information--such as how fast the MD-11 was going when it crashed--was still attached to the recovered under-wing engine. About 25% of the plane has been recovered since it crashed Sept. 2, killing all 229 people aboard.

Investigators are summoning a heavy-lift barge to scoop up as much wreckage as possible of Swissair Flight 111 before winter storms arrive that could scatter crucial evidence. All human remains of the 229 victims of the crash that divers can recover without risking injury to themselves have been recovered. Crash investigators said more human remains will probably be recovered when larger pieces of the airliner are brought to the surface.

British Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and other European carriers say they oppose a government-backed rescue of Swissair Group. Switzerland's government, biggest companies and wealthiest people agreed to put up $2.5 billion to keep Swissair flying. Rivals say the cash puts Swissair at a competitive advantage when the entire industry is suffering as air travel falls after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S.

Swissair Group, struggling to come back from a financial collapse, said Monday that it will cut 9,000 jobs worldwide and offer reduced-price tickets to lure more customers. Chief Executive Mario Corti told an employee assembly about the job cuts, which represent nearly 13% of Swissair's 71,000 workers, said spokesman Rainer Maier.

Swissair hopes to operate more than half of its flights in the next two days, including at least 47 long-haul flights. After days of recriminations about last week's grounding of the airline, Swissair leaders and unions for the first time said they would be willing to cooperate with a new airline, to be led by the Crossair regional airline and kept afloat by money from banking giants UBS and the Credit Suisse Group.

The Swiss government gave collapsed Swissair Group a hefty cash injection Wednesday to get its planes flying again after a cash crunch grounded the flag carrier and stranded thousands of passengers. Swissair Chairman Mario Corti said the $280-million credit--unlikely ever to be repaid--will allow Swissair flights to resume today. The deal was struck after a round of emergency meetings with top government officials and leading banks. But the group's future remained bleak.

Swissair Group said its fleet will stay grounded today after Europe's seventh-largest airline ran out of cash. It received $160.4 million credit from UBS and Credit Suisse Group as part of a rescue package. Swissair canceled 262 flights Tuesday, stranding about 19,000 passengers, it said, and will decide today whether it can resume flights Thursday. "We try our best," spokeswoman Christine Buhler said.

Swissair Group, crushed by debt and a sharp decline in air travel, said it will hand over most of its Swissair flights to low-cost regional carrier Crossair and seek court protection from creditors for other key businesses. Capping its dramatic fall from the Swiss corporate elite, the carrier said it will cut 2,560 jobs while the smaller but healthier Crossair unit will take over two-thirds of Swissair's flight operations before the end of the month.

Swissair Group, crushed by debt and a sharp decline in air travel, said it will hand over most of its Swissair flights to low-cost regional carrier Crossair and seek court protection from creditors for other key businesses. Capping its dramatic fall from the Swiss corporate elite, the carrier said it will cut 2,560 jobs while the smaller but healthier Crossair unit will take over two-thirds of Swissair's flight operations before the end of the month.

Swissair chose European aircraft maker Airbus Industrie Friday over McDonnell Douglas Corp. to provide 26 new airliners in an order worth at least $1.8 billion (2.3 billion Swiss francs), the biggest aircraft order in the airline's 60-year history. The airline, which took options on additional 26 aircraft, said it would buy seven 133-seat Airbus A320s and 19 170-seat A321s. The type of engine to power the aircraft will be decided later.

The Swiss government said Sunday it will meet to discuss plans to keep troubled airline Swissair aloft. Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger--who is also the country's transport minister--told reporters the session would take place this morning. The government will decide at the meeting how to deal with the crisis facing the flag carrier, he said. Swissair is facing bankruptcy after the Sept.

Swissair has lost its chief executive to a consumer travel Web site that was formed by five big U.S. airlines. Jeffrey Katz, a 45-year-old American who has been at the Swiss flag carrier for three years, will become chairman, president and chief executive of Orbitz. Orbitz will try to compete with leading travel Web sites, such as Expedia Inc., majority-owned by Microsoft Corp., and Travelocity Inc. Sabre Holdings Corp. is the booking engine behind Travelocity and also the majority owner.