Frankfurt, Germany (GenevaLunch) - Lufthansa, the parent company of airline Swiss, had an operating loss of €330 million during the first three months of 2010, and a net loss of 298m, more than expected by analysts and a larger net loss than during the same period in 2009, €267m. The company blamed a pilots’ strike, which cost it €50m, as well as higher fuel costs and the consolidation of takeovers of two airlines, Austrian and bmi. The board says it expects nevertheless to end the year with a smaller loss than in 2009, thanks to growth in passenger and cargo traffic.
Links to other sites: Lufthansa (results available 5 May), Wall Street Journal
Update 07:00 Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A strike by Lufthansa pilots was called off at midnight Monday 22 February, the pilots’ union and Lufthansa announced. Talks will resume with no preconditions and the striking unions have committed themselves to avoiding industrial action before 8 March, in an agreement with the German labour court in Frankfurt.
The strike of 4,000 pilots was expected to cause major disruption, but appears to have had a relatively minot impact: Zurich and Geneva airports reported they were fairly calm, despite 27 canceled flights Monday out of a total of 87.
The airline Swiss announced late Monday evening thatwhile its flights are not affected directly by the strike, codeshare flights are and the company will continue to keep a close eye on the situation. The Swiss-based airline, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group,
A general strike in Greece 24 February will affect some Swiss flights, the company notes.
Links to other sites: NZZ (Ger), ats/Romandie
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UBS says it has completely lifted a travel ban it implemented in April 2009 for its client managers, reports Nasdaq. They were told not to travel abroad following an order from Finma, the bank regulatory body, for UBS to revamp its cross-border business policies.
UBS also announced Monday 7 December that it is nominating, to one of its 12 board positions, Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chairman of the board and CEO of Lufthansa airline.
Remember Swissair?
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The old Swissair logo, once estimated to be worth CHF700 million before the airline collapsed in 2002, could now be bought by airline Swiss for CHF7 million, the SAirGroup, which is settling the old airline’s debts, says. Lufthansa, which owns Swiss, has said it is not interested in reviving the logo, but the company wants to ensure no one else is able to buy and use it.
Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss has extended its online check-in service so that passengers can now visit their check-in page several times to make changes such as moving to another seat or checking in a group of up to nine people.
