Crossair

Crossair Ltd. Co. for Regional European Air Transport (German: 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.

Crossair
IATA ICAO Callsign
LX CRX CROSSAIR
Founded18 November 1978 (as Business Flyers Basel AG)
Ceased operations31 March 2002 (formed Swiss International Air Lines)
HubsEuro-Airport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg
Frequent-flyer programQualiflyer
Fleet size88
Parent companySAirGroup
HeadquartersEuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg
Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France
Key peopleMoritz Suter (Founder and former CEO) André Dosé (CEO)
WebsiteCrossair.com Crossair.tk

History

Founded as a private company under the name Business Flyers Basel AG 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 Zurich International Airport in Kloten in 1985.[1]

The logo of the new Swiss International Air Lines.

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.

The SAirGroup logo.
A McDonald's tail on a Crossair MD-83 in a McDonald's livery to promote the restaurant.

Fleet

Crossair operated the following aircraft.

Aircraft Total Delivered Retired Notes
Piper L-4J 1 1975 Unknown
Cessna 310P 1 1975 Unknown
Cessna 421B 1 1976 Unknown
Cessna 551 1 1977 Unknown First Jet Operated by Crossair
Fairchild Swearingen Metro II 3 1979 Unknown May have been used up to the late 80s or early 90s
Fairchild Swearingen Metro II 9 1980s Unknown May have been used up to the late 80s or early 90s
Saab 340 34 1984 2002 flew mainly from Basel as well as Lugano and Zürich.
Replaced by Embraer ERJ-145. One crashed as Flight 498
Fokker 50 5 1990 1995
Fokker F27 Friendship 3 1984 1984
BAe 146 3 1990 1994
Avro RJ 85 4 1993 2002 named Kärpf, Piz Julier, Montchaibeux, Lindenberg
Avro RJ 100 16 1995 2002 All were named. One written off as Flight 3597
Saab 2000 32 1994 2002 all were stored or sold, though what happened to one is not known
was world's largest operator of the type in 2000
flown mainly from Basel as well as Lugano and Zürich
replaced by Embraer ERJ 145. One written off as Flight 850
McDonnell Douglas MD-83 12 Unknown 2004 some were named, all were sold, though what happened to one is not known
mostly used on larger routes from Zurich, and some from Basel
Embraer ERJ 145 LU 25 2000 Unknown all were named or sold
used on routes from all three hubs
replaced SAAB aircraft
Embraer ERJ 145 LR 1 2002 Unknown named Gemsstock
used on routes from all three hubs
replaced SAAB aircraft

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 around 20 minutes) This helped Crossair link with their partners, such as Swissair from Zurich. Crossair also operated flights between Swiss airports.

Incidents and accidents
  • On 10 January 2000, Crossair Flight 498 crashed just after take-off from 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 two of the three girls from German Eurodance group Passion Fruit. One crew survived along with eight other passengers, and suffered minor injuries and third-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
The current Swiss International Air Lines head office at EuroAirport was once the head office of Crossair

Crossair was headquartered on the grounds of EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg in Saint-Louis, Haut-Rhin, France, near Basel, Switzerland.[2] In 2002 the name "Crossair" was replaced with "Swiss International Air Lines" on the head office building.[3]

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See also

References
  1. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. 30 March 1985. 71." Retrieved on 17 June 2009.
  2. "Location." Crossair. Retrieved on 13 June 2009.
  3. "INDUSTRY BRIEFS." Airline Industry Information. 2 July 2002. Retrieved on 12 January 2010. "According to a company statement, the new name replaces Crossair at the corporate headquarters in Basel."
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