Crossair

Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport (Crossair AG für europäischen Regionalluftverkehr) was a regional airline headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland. It became Swiss International Air Lines after taking over most of the assets of Swissair following that airline's bankruptcy in 2002.

History
Founded as a private company under the name Business Flyers Basle by Moritz Suter, it changed to Crossair on 18 November 1978, before the beginning of scheduled services on 2 July 1979 with flights from Zürich to Nuremberg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. It was headquartered at Zürich International Airport in Kloten in 1985.

It added charter services for major shareholder Swissair in November 1995. On 31 March 2002, Swissair passed out of existence as most of its assets were taken over by Crossair which then changed names to Swiss International Air Lines.

Fleet
Crossair operated the following aircraft.
 * Swissair leased an MD-11 to Crossair for the Zurich-Palma De Mallorca route.

Destinations
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 which was set up to help them serve smaller airports and transfer their passengers to larger hubs with short transit times (only 20 minutes!) This helped Crossair link with their partners, such as Swissair from Zurich. Crossair also operated flights between Swiss airports.

Crossair Services
Crossair operated a high standard of service towards their passengers. Even on their short 20 minute flights, Crossair would offer their passengers a selection of drinks and high quality snacks. These included: Orange juice, Champagne and Water. All drinks and snacks were free of charge. Crossair also operated Business and Economy class flights and their business class passengers would have access to special services, such as airport lounges and priority luggage services. Crossair's luggage policy was very "passengers friendly". Passengers could take with them up to 30 kilos of hold luggage with them and 5 kilos of hand luggage. Crossair would also help their passengers further by offering them a 'delivery at aircraft door' service. This is where passengers could leave heavy or large items of hand luggage at the aircraft stairs and then collect them their again on arrival. For passengers needing special assistance, such as wheelchair or UM passengers, Crossair would assist them, by offering them priority boarding and assistance at the airport.

Incidents and accidents

 * On 10 January 2000, Crossair Flight 498 crashed just after take-off in Zürich. All 10 people aboard were killed.
 * On 24 November 2001, Crossair Flight 3597 crashed near Zürich, killing 24 of 33 people aboard, including the famous La Bouche singer Melanie Thornton and 2 of the 3 girls from German eurodance group Passion Fruit. One survived along with 8 other passengers, and suffered minor injuries and 3rd degree burns.
 * On 10 July 2002, Crossair Flight 850 made an emergency landing at Werneuchen Airfield, Germany. The aircraft was damaged beyond economic repair when it hit an earth bank placed across the runway, the markings of which did not conform to standards.

Head office
Crossair was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland. In 2002 the name "Crossair" was replaced with "Swiss International Air Lines" on the head office building.