Lufthansa absorbs Swiss

Frankfurt, Germany-The Lufthansa Group plans a takeover and integration of Swiss into the Lufthansa Group.

According to the airline, Swiss will continue to pursue a restructuring programme it announced in January, and will remain “a mostly independent airline” keeping its own brand appearance as well as its base in Zurich. Lufthansa will expand the long-haul fleet of Swiss with two additional aircraft, reports schednet.com.

The expanded global service created by the takeover will take effect from the 2005/06 winter flight schedule. The Lufthansa Group expects that the integration will produce up to EUR160 million (US$209 million) in extra revenue and cost savings from 2007.