Swissair Plans to Resume Bulk of Flights

Swissair hopes to operate more than half of its flights in the next two days, including at least 47 long-haul flights.

After days of recriminations about last week’s grounding of the airline, Swissair leaders and unions for the first time said they would be willing to cooperate with a new airline, to be led by the Crossair regional airline and kept afloat by money from banking giants UBS and the Credit Suisse Group.

The government had said Friday that it fully backs the “Crossair solution” and considers it the only way to make sure that Switzerland continues to have a domestic airline.

UBS and Credit Suisse Group bought Swissair’s 70% stake in Crossair for $163 million last week. They also pledged to supply funds to ensure funding for airline-related services, in a rescue package that totals $850 million.

But the banks were the target of national public and government outrage when the entire Swissair fleet was grounded and tens of thousands of passengers were stranded last week because it didn’t have the funds to pay for fuel and other expenses in cash. Suppliers asked for cash payments because of the imminent filing for creditor protection, which was granted by a district court on Friday.

The government stepped in with a $280-million bridge loan to keep Swissair aloft until Oct. 28, when Crossair takes over.