Swiss, aloft
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Airline Swiss will offer more connections between Britain and Geneva starting 10 January 2010, with six new flights daily to Heathrow. The company is reducing the number of flights between Geneva and London City from the current six a day to four. The additional flights will be provided in part by an additional Heathrow-based airplane, but Swiss will be working closely with British Midlands and some of the new connections will be codeshare flights.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Passengers flying economy class on Swiss will do their own check-ins starting 30 July, ATS news service reports the airline confirming.
Electronic check-ins will thus replace check-in desks. The service will be evaluated in the autumn.
Thirteen bodies have washed up on the Tanzanian island of Mafia (map), along with debris, and they are thought to be those of victims of the Comoros archipelago crash of a Yemeni airliner in 1 July. Officials say DNA tests will be needed to identify them. The island is south of Dar es Salaam, not far from the mainland. BBC
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Baboo, which serves 16 destinations from Geneva has put 60 percent of its staff on partial unemployment, reports Le Temps, despite continuing strong growth. Growth in fact is the source of the problem, the newspaper quotes company director Jacques Bankir as saying. Baboo’s sales increased 87 percent in 2008 to CHR56 million. The number of passengers rose 75 percent.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A woman from canton Basel State was diagnosed at the Basel cantonal hospital with A/H1N1 swine flu in Switzerland, the third case in Switzerland. The national influenza centre in Geneva has not yet confirmed the diagnosis. She flew into Zurich from Washington DC, USA 22 May, announced the Federal Office of Public Health. Swiss health authorities obtained the list of passengers from the airline the woman was traveling on, and they will be informed by health authorities in their own countries.
Australian Airline Qantas will cut up to 1,750 jobs and ground 10 aircraft in an attempt to stay afloat in their worst aviation downturn in years. They will also defer delivery of super-jumbo A380s and other aircraft and have decreased their profit forecast by 80 percent. The airline said Australian domestic routes would be the most heavily affected by the capacity cuts, along with routes to the US, UK and South Africa. Sydney Morning Herald
Update 19 March 08:25 Paris, France (GenevaLunch) – More than one million people are expected to take part in a major French strike today, reports the BBC. Many of France’s public servants but also private sector companies began striking late Wednesday, 18 March, and they are expected to stay away from work until Friday 08:00 20 March.
Rome, Italy (International Herald Tribune) – Italian national carrier Alitalia, grounded after it ran out of money, will be flying again 13 January after a group of Italian investors headed by the chairman of scooter company Piaggio saved it.
Title: The Demise of Swissair
Location: Lausanne, Palace Hotel
Link out: Click here
Description: Executives Int. presentatin: Karl Wüthrich, provisional administrator Swissair Group, on the demise of the national icon as experienced by its liquidator
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 12 Nov 2008
Alitalia is headed towards becoming the first national airline to go under since Swissair and Sabena in 2001 but Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is under pressure to save it, with 19,000 jobs in the company and thousands more in airports at risk. Bloomberg
