New Swissair to be simply 'swiss'

The national airline has a new image for a new start

Switzerland's revamped national airline will be known simply as "swiss".

The name reflects the multicultural, cosmopolitan character and the typical Swiss characteristics of quality

Company statement

Unveiling the corporate image for the new company being built on the remains of the bankrupt Swissair, managers said the new name reflected the "typical Swiss characteristics of quality".

The new logo and corporate image, featuring the red and white of the Swiss flag, were designed by Canadian design guru, Tyler Brule.

The logo "swiss" will be painted in red onto the white aircraft in lowercase letters, accompanied by the words for Switzerland in the country's four languages - Schweiz (German), Suisse (French), Svizzera (Italian) and Svizra (Romanche).

The traditional Swiss white cross will remain on the tailfin, but the red background will be slightly darker, and a thin white strip will be painted at the top of the tail.

There will be up to eight planes decked out in the new livery by April, from a total fleet of 128 aircraft.

Air pressure

The company's official name will be Swiss Air Lines Ltd, but "swiss" will be its trademark.

Mr Brule has made some subtle changes

It is based on Swissair's subsidiary company Crossair.

Swissair filed for bankruptcy protection in October last year, following a disastrous expansion plan.

The Swiss Government, banks and various private companies, launched a multi-million dollar rescue package for a new national airline to be formed.

Under the rescue deal, the company's regional carrier, Crossair, was recapitalised and expanded, so that it could take over Switzerland's international air transport services and two thirds of Swissair's flights.

The new airline will formally take off on 31 March, with the start of the summer timetable.

It plans to have broken even by 2003 after a budgeted 1.1bn Swiss franc ($664m) loss in 2002.

Analysts say that "swiss" is under immense pressure to perform well.

A recent poll on public confidence on the new national airline revealed that only 7% of Swiss believe the company had a very good chance of survival.