No room for Swiss – Air France

No Room For Swiss In SkyTeam – Air France
September 19, 2004
The SkyTeam Alliance of airlines has no space for troubled airline Swiss to squeeze in, Air France Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta told a newspaper on Sunday.

Swiss — which analysts consider too big for its small domestic market and in desperate need of a partner — approached SkyTeam last summer for the second time but was turned down, Spinetta told the NZZ am Sonntag paper.

The SkyTeam Alliance, second in size behind Star Alliance, last week added KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines to its membership.

The network lets passengers accrue frequent flyer miles and travel to a greater variety of destinations.

“We have signed and put into action a contract with KLM. I cannot therefore conceive of an additional co-operation with Swiss,” Spinetta said.

Swiss first contacted SkyTeam in 2002 before renewing its interest last summer, Spinetta said. The airline has struggled with cut-throat competition and a small home market.

“Switzerland is a country with about 8 million inhabitants. In order to be able to run the network they’ve built up, Swiss has to attract customers from the home markets of its competitors,” he said.

Swiss earlier this year failed to join British Airways’ oneworld alliance and speculation has been running high it might link up with Lufthansa’s Star Alliance, although both airlines denied they were in talks.

Swiss said last month it would not worry about a partner until it had got its operations on track, having warned investors it is likely to make an operating loss this year.

(Reuters)

source: http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/09/1095588301.html