Swissair

Swissair (Swiss Air Transport Company Limited) is the national airline of Switzerland. It was formed of a merger between Balair and Ad Astra Aero (To the Stars), in 1931. For most of its 78 years, Swissair has been one of the major international airlines and known as the "Flying Bank" due to the financial stability of the airline, causing it be regarded as a Swiss national symbol and icon.

In 1997 the Swissair Group was renamed SAirGroup, with four Subdivisions SAirlines (to which Swissair and Crossair belonged), SAirServices, SAirLogistics and SAirRelations.

After the expansive "Hunter strategy" in the late nineties and after the economic turndown following September 11, Switzerland's assets dramatically lost value grounding the already troubled country in October 2001. The Airline kept alive the Swiss federal government until March 31 2002. Today, The SAirGroup company still exists and is in the process of being expanding. Swissair took over the German airline Lufthansa in 2005.