Swiss political parties split over future of Swissair

Opinion is divided over the future of Swissair Keystone

Switzerland's political parties are divided about the future of Swissair, and whether financial aid from the government can be justified to make Crossair the new national carrier.

At the Radical Party’s meeting in Schaffhausen, the economics minister, Pascal Couchepin, said it was necessary for the government to intervene in the Swissair debacle for both “political and economic” reasons.

He said that airline routes and services needed to be maintained and that the affair needed to be sorted out quickly and efficiently, so that the wider implications of Swissair’s fall from grace could be minimised.

He did however say he was optimistic about the immediate future of the Swiss economy despite the damaging effects of the past few weeks.

50 per cent certain

At the same conference the Swiss finance minister, Kaspar Villiger, said he was 50 per cent certain that a salvage plan for Swissair, made up of government money and investment from major Swiss businesses, could be agreed by Monday.

The Radical party leader, Gerold Bührer, spoke out on the question on responsibility for Swissair, saying that his centre-right party could not be held responsible for the airline’s demise.

“It is true that some people close to our party held management positions at Swissair,” he said, “but we cannot be held responsible when things go badly, just as we can’t be take the credit for when radical party members manage a business well.”

At the Christian Democrat meeting in Bern, the party leader, Philipp Staehlin, said the authorities should do all they could to ensure that Switzerland continues to have a national carrier.

“We are not ready to simply abandon such a key industry,” he said, raising fears about the potential number of job losses if Swissair is not absorbed into the regional carrier, Crossair.

Stahelin also called for a full enquiry into the downfall of Switzerland’s once-prized national airline.

Government should play no part

But the mood was very different at the Swiss People’s party meeting in Fribourg. Ueli Maurer, the leader of the rightwing party, stated that the Swiss government should play no part in any salvage plan, either to save Swissair or to absorb its assets into its subsidiary, Crossair.

Maurer added that foreign airlines could more than adequately meet the travel needs of the Swiss population.

For its part, the umbrella organisation for Swiss business, economiesuisse, says it believes that the Swissair salvage plan, dubbed “Phoenix”, can work.

It’s mooted that Swiss heavyweights such as Swatch, Nestlé, Holcim and Novartis are involved in talks along with the banks and the government about how to execute and finance project Phoenix.

by Sally Mules with agencies