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[NEWS]: Swiss' board to pick alliance partner Monday
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/030921/airlines_swiss_1.html
Swiss' board to pick alliance partner Monday-paper Sunday September 21, 11:50 am ET ZURICH, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The board of Swiss International Air Lines will decide on Monday which alliance the loss-making airline will join and announce the move at a news conference the next day, a Swiss newspaper said on Sunday. A board decision would remove a cloud hanging over shares in Swiss, which have swung wildly in recent months amid fluctuating hopes of news on an alliance partner, and clarify the fate of the carrier including future financing. A spokesman for Swiss declined to confirm the report in the SonntagsZeitung. "We do not comment on plans for internal meetings nor on our communication strategy. You will just have to be patient for a little longer," he said. The reported timing of the long-awaited decision would be in line with comments by the carrier's Chief Executive Andre Dose, who said late in August the decision would take several weeks. Media reports have said the board is narrowly divided on whether to opt for the oneworld group led by British Airways or the world's largest airline partnership, Star Alliance, which includes German rival Lufthansa. Complicating factors include Swiss' need for 500 million Swiss francs ($362 million) in working capital, which media reports said BA is loath to fork out, and likely further job and fleet cuts at Swiss to minimise a possible threat to alliance partners. Politically sensitive are any partner's plans with Zurich airport, now the hub of Swiss' network and a major employer in the region, which could be too close to Munich for Lufthansa's comfort but might meet BA's need for a second hub. Culturally and linguistically, Swiss is seen as easier to merge with Lufthansa, which media reports said is eyeing a full bid offering Swiss shareholders including the Swiss state and leading banks UBS and Credit Suisse Lufthansa stock in return. From a perspective of national pride -- a sentiment blocking many potential airline mergers in Europe -- the BA option might be favoured since Swiss would remain autonomous and its network largely left intact due to a lack of overlap, analysts say. Since Swiss was born of collapsed Swissair and regional carrier Crossair in April 2002, it has always said it preferred joining oneworld, including American Airlines. Like many of its rivals, Swiss is fighting to survive in an overcrowded airline industry and has already reduced its fleet and staff by around a third and cut its route network. Swiss' shareholders have not publicly stated a preference for BA or Lufthansa, but made it clear that they do not plan to invest more in the airline, whose stock has lost almost 20 percent in value this year after shedding 54 percent in 2002. -- Goliath & Wildwing's Storage Room http://anatidae.homestead.com/ |
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[NEWS]: Swiss' board to pick alliance partner Monday
Fortunately,
they picked the ones I dislike: American, British... Should they have entered Star Alliance, I would have stopped traveling with United, Lufthansa & Singapore. I fly at least 10 overseas trips a year and when I buy a ticket from a Star Alliance member, it's to have professional and quality service. Not to end up in a Swiss Air Lines plane! I'm a swiss citizen, but have been boycotting Swissair and its new renamed Swiss daughter for 16 years. Swiss is not failing due to the Sept. 11 or the SRAS disease. They're failing because they're incompetent and they offer ugly service. Arrogance always made them think "we are the best, nobody equals us". Problem is that it's not enough to keep saying that to have it become true. You have to match the pretention in service. Sincerely, Steve JORDI (Remove the K_I_L_LSPAM from my email address) ------------------------------------------------ 1197 Prangins Email: Switzerland WWW: www.sjordi.com ------------------------------------------------ Volcanoes at www.sjordi.com/volcanoes MovieDB at www.sjmoviedb.com ------------------------------------------------ ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000 Newsgroups ---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption =--- |
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