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Swiss International Air Lines is the premier airline of Switzerland. Its main hub is Zurich Kloten Airport. The airline has set up a regional airline subsidiary called Swiss European Air Lines. This carrier has its own air operator certificate and operates the non-Airbus fleet.
Swiss International Air Lines was formed, when Swissair, Switzerland's former flag carrier, went bankrupt in 2001. Swissair’s biggest creditors, Credit Suisse and UBS, sold a part of Swissair's assets to Crossair, the regional counterpart to the transatlantic Swissair. Both Swissair and Crossair were under the same holding company, SairGroup. Crossair later changed its name to Swiss, and the new national airline started its operations officially on March 31, 2002. In 2005, Lufthansa confirmed its plan to take over Swiss. Lufthansa has acquired 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.
As on March 2006, Swiss International Air Lines had a fleet of 67 aircrafts with an average age of 7.3 years. The fleet consists of 9 Airbus A340-300, 9 Airbus A330-200, 4 Airbus A321, 14 Airbus A320, 7 Airbus A319, 20 Avro RJ100, and 4 Avro RJ85.
Presently, Swiss International Air Lines, flies to 69 destinations worldwide. These include 42 European destinations and 27 Intercontinental destinations. In India, Swiss International Air Lines flies to Delhi and Mumbai.