Pilots Lodge CHF1.35B Claims Against Swissair Units

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

ZURICH -- Pilots who worked for Swissair Group (Z.SAG) have lodged CHF1.35 billion claims against a further three units of the collapsed Swiss airline, estate administrator Karl Wuethrich said Friday.

Wuethrich said the 1,100 Swissair pilots have filed three privileged claims of CHF1.35 billion each against SAirGroup, SAirLines and Flightlease AG.

These follow a CHF1.35 billion claim which the pilots filed against their former employer, Swissair Schweizerische Luftverkehr AG.

The latest submissions mean the pilots have lodged claims against all four subsidiaries of Swissair Group that are currently under a debt-restructuring moratorium.

The estate administrator said that should the additional claims be admissible, SAirLines and Flightlease AG wouldn't have sufficient assets to cover privileged claims. A debt-restructuring agreement would consequently be out of the question for these two companies, he added.

At SAirGroup, assets might just be sufficient to cover claims, although a debt agreement would be at risk, he said.

Swissair Group applied for protection from creditors last October after facing liquidity problems and a debt load of CHF16 billion.

Its former regional airline unit, Crossair (Z.CRO), took over two-thirds of Swissair's fleet at the end of March after a bailout by the Swiss government and a number of Swiss companies. It was renamed Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. (Z.SWI) in July.

-By Antonio Ligi, Dow Jones Newswires; 41 1 212 2181; antonio.ligi@dowjones.com