Swissair debacle still leaves a bitter taste

swissinfo October 1, 2002 7:54 PM





The grounding of Swissair a year ago was more than a humiliating business debacle – it badly wounded Swiss national pride and undermined the standing of business leaders.

Switzerland’s coveted reputation for reliability and high standards took a nosedive alongside the venerable 70-year-old airline.



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Above all, the grounding of Swissair - amid outrage from stranded passengers, political recriminations and the launch of several investigations – marked the beginning of the end for one of Switzerland’s most globally recognised standard-bearers.

For the Swiss themselves, both at home and abroad, the airline’s collapse was bitter blow. The spectacle of a red-and-white Swissair tail fin was often more than just an aircraft. It had an emotional significance similar to a nation’s flag or national anthem.

Although one year later, the airline’s remnants have been given a fresh lease of life in the new national airline, Swiss, the damage has been done.

Black Tuesday

On October 2, the airline’s owners, the Swissair Group, grounded all flights around the world after fuel suppliers refused deliveries in retaliation for unpaid bills.

The Swiss president, Moritz Leuenberger, described the event as a disaster, before lashing out at Switzerland’s two biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, for deserting the carrier and cutting off its lines of credit.

In turn, the Swiss public and the country’s populist press expressed their anger by taking aim at the government’s failure to bail the airline out.

Swissair’s fatal ambition

But despite the indignation, more measured subsequent post-mortems of the grounding revealed that the airline had fallen victim to its own over-ambitious expansion strategy.

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