Crossair has been cleared to take off under its new SWISS brand on March 31: the Canton Zurich Commercial Court has rejected the Swissair Group’s application to prevent the company from using the SWISS brand and the Swiss Air Lines Ltd. name. The Court did not feel the need to seek Crossair AG’s views on the issue before reaching its decision.

The decision by the Canton Zurich Commercial Court to reject the Swissair Group’s application was founded on two separate considerations:

* First, the Court rejected the Swissair Group’s claim that the group would suffer a disadvantage which would be difficult to subsequently redress if Crossair used the SWISS name from March 31 onwards.  For this reason alone, the Court saw no reason to approve the precautionary actions which the Swissair Group was demanding.

* The Court was also of the firm opinion - in contrast to the Swissair Group - that there was no risk of confusion between SWISS and Swissair, since the two entities were clearly distinct from one another.  The Court further felt that it was only natural for SWISS aircraft to carry the Swiss cross on their tails, an arrangement which the Swissair Group had also sought to prohibit.

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