Crossair lands in the red

Regional carrier Crossair reveals first loss since 1992. Crossair

Crossair has followed its sister airline, Swissair, into the red. The company made a first-half loss for the first time in eight years.

The Basel-based short-haul carrier on Thursday unveiled a loss of SFr6.1 million ($3.5 million). The company blamed higher fuel prices and a strong dollar. Last year it reported first-half profits of SFr51.1 million before taxes and profit-sharing deductions.

In a statement, Crossair said it was cautiously optimistic, but warned that salary rises for pilots were expected to reduce its second-half result by about SFr3 million. The company ended a long-standing pay dispute with pilots in June.

The company has not said whether it expects a profit for the full year.

Crossair also reported that sales improved by 11 per cent, coming in at SFr564.8 million for the first six months of the year. However, that is still below market expectations.

The airline’s overall sales were unaffected by January’s tragic air crash, in which 10 people died when a Crossair flight to Germany crashed close to Zurich’s Kloten airport.

It said that total flying hours increased by eight per cent “but the outlay for kerosene rose by 105 per cent – corresponding to additional expenditure of SFr43 million”.

The adverse effect of currency fluctuations also accounted for a further SFr14 million reduction.

swissinfo with agencies