Swiss qualities and a Swiss name: the new inter-continental airline will fly under the trade mark SWISS. At an international press conference, Crossair CEO André Dosé outlined the brand strategy under which the new airline will enter the market. The name reflects the multi-cultural, cosmopolitan character and the typical Swiss characteristics of quality. With the introduction of the Summer timetable on March 31, SWISS will take flight.

André Dosé, Chief Executive Officer of Crossair and of the new airline, said that there were two decisive factors in the choice of name. “The new airline is a unique instance in Swiss post-war history, of a collective alliance of politics, industry and the people of Switzerland. It will be the qualities, which have made our country great, on which we are banking in the building up of our new airline”.  These are reliability, friendliness, safety, elegance and perfect service characterised by inovation, coupled with a multi-cultural cosmopolitan attitude. It is on this foundation, André Dosé is convinced, “that the integration of Crossair and Swissair employees in the new project can be successfully accomplished.” Today’s presentation was just the first step, the Crossair CEO stressed. This will be followed by another important milestone in March. At an organised event it will be explained in detail how the new airline will function and how the individual phases will be implemented. In this way, SWISS will become increasingly real and comprehensible to both clients and to the public.

The new brand concept and its visual appearance were presented to more than 200 national and international journalists by André Dosé, the Canadian Creative Director, Tyler Brûlé and Arjen Pen, Head of Sales and Marketing for the new airline. Brûlé‘s agency, Wink Media of London, won the contract in an international competition to create the brand of the new Swiss inter-continental airline. “A brand is more than a logo”, Brûlé said, at the media briefing in Basel it is a set of distinct traits built on a solid foundation. The brand shows who we are, what we do, how we think, what our traditions are and where we want to go”. For the Canadian, resident in London and Switzerland, who has been a Swissair fan for years and who can regularly be seen here, it was evident from the start that the new airline should inscribe “Swissness” on its banner. “Swiss quality values were not attributed solely to Crossair and Swissair. They are accepted shorthand for excellence around the world. “It is on these values”, said Brûlé, “that we are building what will be the most respected airline in the world”.

In order to communicate this basic position clearly and understandably. Brûlé and his team chose the concept of SWISS. The registered company name will be Swiss Air Lines Ltd. For legal reasons, the change from Crossair cannot be made until October and the start of the Winter timetable 2002, as it must be authorised at the next General Assembly of the shareholders.

At the media briefing in Basel, Dosé and Brûlé presented the first examples of the planned new designs and of the qualitative improvements being planned for Economy, Business and First Class. The journalists were shown, in addition to aircraft models, a genuine Airbus A320 in the new livery and with the new logo.

Arjen Pen, head of Sales and Marketing, gave a briefing on the routes and the fleet of the new inter-continental Swiss national airline, as well as on business developments over the next few months. These are proceeding better than had been foreseen in the business plan. Reservations for the next few weeks indicate that the predictions for load factors and revenues will be exceeded.

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