Five years after the traumatic grounding of Swissair, the jetlagged public find it hard to feel any emotional attachment to the reincarnated national airline Swiss.

Matthew Allen

But industry insiders believe Swiss could be on the verge of restoring some confidence if it can maintain its current fledgling recovery under the wing of German owners Lufthansa.

Switzerland was left in a virtual state of collective mourning when Swissair was grounded on October 2, 2001. The nation's confidence took a nosedive as the perception of well-organised reliability was finally debunked.

Former Swissair pilot Christian Frauenfelder was flying back from Tokyo when the devastating news reached the cockpit.

"The most vivid memory I have of that day was rolling through the rows of grounded aircraft when we landed in Zurich. It was like a graveyard of Swiss flags and my heart was very heavy," he told swissinfo.

The whole country shared Frauenfelder's sense of shock and loss.

"Swissair was the seen as the symbol of Switzerland that belonged to the people. The collapse of a national airline happened in third world countries – banana republics – not Switzerland," he said.

Five months later a new national carrier was born in the shape of Swiss, a fusion between airline Crossair and the wreckage of Swissair, funded with taxpayers' money.

But, despite still sporting the Swiss flag on the tailfins of its aircraft, Swiss has failed to generate the same feelings of pride and emotional attachment.

Outpouring of emotion

"The day after the grounding, Swissair pilots marched into Zurich to protest at the banks that they blamed for letting the airline go bust," Matthias Mölleney, Swissair personnel chief at the time of the collapse, told swissinfo.

"When people saw them marching they bought all the flowers that were available in the city centre and gave them to the pilots. There would still be some flowers left if the same thing happened to Swiss."

In the five years since the grounding airlines have become hostage to uncontrollable global pressures - such as fuel costs and the challenge of low-cost competitors - lowering their status in the public eye, argues Madeleine Herren-Oesch, a social history professor at Heidelberg University.

"Airlines and airports are no longer metaphors of modernity or a symbol of national success," the former Zurich University academic told swissinfo. "They are now seen as noisy, disturbing and dangerous."

Frauenfelder, who now flies for Swiss and is vice-president of pilot's union Aeropers, believes Swiss has struggled to win hearts because it struggled at first, mounting up debts and job losses in its first few years.

"When Swissair was grounded the emotional connection with the airline was grounded too. That can never be copied," he said.

"The new airline had problems from the beginning and Swiss people cannot associate with that because they want it to be perfect. It is seen almost as a junior version of Swissair."

In Mölleney's view, the public finds it hard to associate with a German owned company. But Frauenfelder points out that Lufthansa's intervention has stimulated a welcome recovery.

A 24-hour strike by former Crossair pilots last week did generate some public reaction.

"Swiss has just started to turn the corner financially and people see this strike as a threat to that success," Frauenfelder said. "If this success continues then perhaps people will again feel pride for their national carrier."

swissinfo, Matthew Allen

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