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| Founded | 1975 (1975) (asBusiness Flyers Basel AG)[1] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commenced operations | 18 November 1978 (1978-11-18) (asCrossair) | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 31 March 2002 (2002-03-31) (re-organized as Swiss International Air Lines) | ||||||
| Hubs | EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Qualiflyer | ||||||
| Subsidiaries | Crossair Europe (1997–2002) | ||||||
| Parent company | SAirGroup | ||||||
| Headquarters | Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France | ||||||
| Founder | Moritz Suter | ||||||
Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport (German: Crossair AG für europäischen Regionalluftverkehr) was a Swiss regional airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse FreiburginSaint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland.
After taking over most of the assets of Swissair following that airline's bankruptcy in 2002, Crossair was restructured to become Swiss International Air Lines.[2]
The airline was founded as a private company under the name Business Flyers Basel AG in 1975 by Moritz Suter. The name later changed to Crossair on 18 November 1978, before the beginning of scheduled services on 2 July 1979, with flights from ZürichtoNuremberg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt.[citation needed] It was headquartered at Zurich AirportinKloten in 1985.[3]
It added charter services for major shareholder Swissair in November 1995.[citation needed]
After parent company SAirGroup had to apply for a debt restructuring moratorium in October 2001, it became necessary to change the entire planning. On 31 March 2002, Swissair ceased all operations while most of its assets were taken over by Crossair which then was subsequently restructured and rebranded to become Swiss International Air Lines.[2]
Crossair was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-FreiburginSaint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland.[4] In 2002 the name "Crossair" was replaced with "Swiss International Air Lines" on the head office building.[5]
Crossair flew from Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lugano and Zurich. Crossair was very interested in serving from several hubs and, therefore set up a multi-hub business plan. Crossair set up a Eurocross scheme from their Basel base to serve smaller airports and transfer their passengers to larger hubs with short transit times (only around 20 minutes) This helped Crossair link with partners, such as Swissair from Zurich. Crossair also operated flights between Swiss airports.[citation needed]
Crossair has operated the following aircraft throughout its existence:[6][7]
| 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 crashed as Flight 3597. |
| British Aerospace 146-200A | 3 | 1990 | 1994 | |
| British Aerospace 146-300 | 2 | 1991 | 1996 | |
| Cessna T210 | 1 | 1976 | Unknown | |
| Cessna 310P | 1 | 1976 | Unknown | |
| Cessna 320C | 1 | 1975 | Unknown | |
| Cessna 421B | 1 | 1976 | Unknown | |
| Cessna 550 | 1 | 1976 | Unknown | |
| 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 crashed as Flight 498. |
| Saab 2000 | 32 | 1994 | 2002 | Largest operator. One written off as Flight 850. |
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