Crossair

Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport
Company type	Private
Industry	Airline
Founded	1975
Founder	Moritz Suter
Defunct	2002
Fate	Reorganized as Swiss International Air Lines
Headquarters	Saint-Louis (EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg), France
Area served	Europe
Key people	Moritz Suter (founder)
Products	Regional air transport services
Parent	SAirGroup (until 2001)

Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport () was a Swiss regional airline with its headquarters situated at EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, close to Basel, Switzerland.

Following the 2002 insolvency of Swissair, Crossair acquired the majority of its assets and underwent a reorganization, emerging as SWISS.

History

Established in 1975 by Moritz Suter under the name Business Flyers Basel AG, the enterprise adopted the name Crossair on 18 November 1978. It commenced scheduled flights on 2 July 1979, initially operating routes from Zürich to Nuremberg, Innsbruck, and Klagenfurt. By 1985, the company's main office had relocated to Zurich Airport in Kloten.

In November 1995, Crossair expanded its operations by adding charter services for its principal shareholder, Swissair.

After the parent organization, SAirGroup, entered a debt restructuring moratorium in October 2001, strategic priorities shifted. When Swissair halted its services on 31 March 2002, Crossair took over most of its assets and was subsequently rebranded as Swiss International Air Lines.

Head office

The administrative center of Crossair was located within the premises of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near the Swiss city of Basel. In 2002, the signage on the headquarters building was updated from "Crossair" to "Swiss International Air Lines."

Destinations

Crossair operated a multi-hub system with bases in Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lugano, and Zurich. Its Eurocross network from Basel linked smaller airports to larger hubs with brief connection times of approximately 20 minutes. This arrangement supported collaborations such as those with Swissair from Zurich. Additionally, Crossair offered domestic flights within Switzerland.

Fleet

During its operational period, Crossair's fleet included:

Crossair fleet
Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Avro RJ85	4	1993	2002	Transferred to Swiss International Air Lines.
Avro RJ100	16	1995	2002	Transferred to Swiss International Air Lines. One aircraft involved in the Crossair Flight 3597 accident.
British Aerospace 146-200A	3	1990	1994
British Aerospace 146-300	2	1991	1996
Cessna T210	1	1976
Cessna 310P	1	1976
Cessna 320C	1	1975
Cessna 421B	1	1976
Cessna 550	1	1976
Cessna 551	1	1977	1982
Embraer ERJ-145LU	22	2000	2002	Transferred to Swiss International Air Lines.
Fairchild Hiller FH-227	1	1984	1984	Leased from Delta Air Transport.
Fairchild Swearingen Metro II	3	1979	1983
Fairchild Swearingen Metro III	9	1981	1990
Fokker F27 Friendship	2	1984	1984
Fokker 50	5	1990	1995
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14	1	1995	1995	Leased from ALG Aeroleasing.
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	1	1995	2001	Transferred to Nordic Airlink.
McDonnell Douglas MD-83	11	1995	2002
Piper L-4J	1	1975	2001
Saab 340	14	1984	2002	One aircraft involved in the Crossair Flight 498 accident.
Saab 2000	32	1994	2002	Largest operator. One aircraft written off as Swiss International Air Lines Flight 850.

Accidents and incidents

On 10 January 2000, Crossair Flight 498 crashed shortly after departing from Zürich, resulting in the deaths of all 10 individuals on board.
On 24 November 2001, Crossair Flight 3597 went down near Zürich, causing 24 fatalities among the 33 passengers. The tragedy included the loss of prominent artists Melanie Thornton and two members of the German Eurodance group Passion Fruit. One group member survived but sustained severe injuries.

External links