Editing Swissair (section)

=== Ascension ===
[[File:Swissair-Aktie von 1947.jpg|left|thumb|Swissair share, issued 17 April 1947]]
[[File:Convair 240 HB-IRV Swiss Air Lines Ringway 25.03.50.jpg|thumb|A Swiss Air Lines Convair 240 at [[Manchester Airport]], England, in March 1950]]
[[File:SR DC3.jpg|thumb|200px|A Swissair Douglas DC-3 in the 1950s]]
[[File:Douglas DC-6B HB-IBE Swissair Ringway 30.07.54 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|A Douglas DC-6B at Manchester Airport in 1954]]

In 1947, the rise of shareholder capital to {{FXConvert|CHE|20|m|cursign={{CHF|link=yes}}|year=1947|showdate=no|index=CH}} enabled long-haul flights to New York, South Africa, and South America with [[Douglas DC-4]]s. The modern [[Convair CV-240 family|Convair 240]], the first Swissair plane with a pressurised cabin, was used for short and medium-range flights starting in late 1948. The first Swissair DC-4 flight to New York was routed via [[Shannon Airport|Shannon]], Ireland, and [[Stephenville, Newfoundland and Labrador|Stephenville, Newfoundland]], on 2 May 1947. However, it ended in [[Washington, D.C.]], due to fog at New York's [[LaGuardia Airport]]. The total elapsed time was 20 hours and 55 minutes.

[[File:Swissair98.jpg|thumb|The former Swissair logo]]

The public, including the federal government, cantons, municipalities, the Swiss Federal Railways, and the Swiss postal services, took over 30.6% of the shares and enabled Swissair to get a credit of 15&nbsp; million Swiss Francs to purchase the airline's first two [[Douglas DC-6]]B airliners for delivery in 1951. By that act, Swissair became Switzerland's national [[flag carrier]]. The new pressurised aircraft was to replace the DC-4 on transatlantic routes.

In 1948, the airport in Dübendorf, which had served as the base of Swissair, was relocated to Zürich-Kloten. Military aviation continued in Dübendorf. The next year, Swissair plunged into a financial crisis due to a sudden devaluation of the British pound because fares, except for traffic to the United States, were calculated in British currency. At that time, traffic to England made up 40 per cent of Swissair's revenue.

In June 1950, Walter Berchtold, manager of Swiss Federal Railways, was elected to the directorial board of Swissair and served as the director. In 1971, he created the corporate culture of Swissair. He grasped the importance of corporate image and corporate identity and after the example of [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]]'s "[[Speedbird]]", he introduced the arrow-shaped Swissair logo. Giving flight personnel a distinct uniform was also an important move. At the time, flight attendants' uniforms resembled the grey-blue ones of the Swiss [[Women's Army Corps]], so Berchtold introduced ones in a modish marine blue. Swissair initiated a veritable fashion competition among European airlines.

{{Rail freight
|float=left
|title=Revenue passenger-kilometers, scheduled flights only, in millions
|1950|147
|1955|465
|1960|1138
|1965|2436
|1971|5001
|1975|7562
|1980|10831
|1985|12609
|2000|34246
|source=ICAO Digest of Statistics for 1950–55, IATA World Air Transport Statistics 1960–2000
}}
[[File:SR DC7.jpg|thumb|left|Douglas DC-7C (1957)]]

In 1952, the cabin layout on northern trans-Atlantic routes was changed to one with a first and a tourist (economy) class. The first-class cabin had comfortable chairs in which one could sleep, given the name "Slumberettes". Those sleeping chairs were soon succeeded by beds, modelled after the US [[Pullman (car or coach)|Pullman railway cars]]. Two adjacent seats were moved towards each other and formed a lower berth. The wall panel could be folded downward, forming the upper berth in which the other person could sleep. A year later, a [[Economy class|tourist class]] cabin was introduced on intra-European flights.

In 1953, Swissair, with the city of [[Basel]], founded a charter company called [[Belair (airline)|Balair]], reusing the name of one of its predecessors, a company that initially used older Swissair aircraft to fly to holiday destinations.

As the first European customer, Swissair bought the [[Douglas DC-7]]C which enabled the company to provide non-stop flights to the United States. For shorter-range routes, the [[Convair Metropolitan]] was used.

In 1957, the [[Far East]] was added to the route network. Direct flights to [[Tokyo]] had intermediate stops in [[Athens]], [[Karachi]], [[Mumbai|Bombay]], [[Bangkok]] and [[Manila]]. That same year, Swissair helped [[Aristotle Onassis]] form the new Greek airline, [[Olympic Airways]].

While competitors first looked at [[turboprop]] aeroplanes to replace their piston-engined craft, Swissair introduced jet aeroplanes. Together with SAS, Swissair bought [[Douglas DC-8]]s, which were delivered beginning in 1960. For medium and short-range routes, the [[Sud Aviation Caravelle]] was purchased. The aircraft were maintained in concert with SAS, and manuals for operation and maintenance were co-written.

[[File:Douglas DC-8-62 HB-IDE SWR ZRH 22.04.79 edited-2.jpg|thumb|right|[[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-62]] of Swissair at Zurich Airport in 1979. The DC-8 series served the airline from 1960.]] 
[[File:Convair 990A HB-ICC Swissair Ringway 07.64 edited-3.jpg|thumb|Swissair Convair Coronado 990A (1962–1975)]]

Swissair was one of the few companies to order the [[Convair 990 Coronado]] for its medium and long-range routes. Although the aircraft did not initially fulfil contractual specifications, they were liked by employees and customers. They operated on the airline's routes to South America, West Africa, and the Middle and Far East.

1966 saw the introduction of the [[McDonnell Douglas DC-9|Douglas DC-9]]. That aircraft became the backbone of the short and medium-range routes, and, after convincing [[Douglas Aircraft Company|Douglas]], which soon merged with [[McDonnell Aircraft Corporation|McDonnell Aircraft]] to create [[McDonnell Douglas]], ultimately merged with [[Boeing]], offered a stretched variant: the DC-9-32. For the first time, Swissair was the launch customer of an aircraft type.

In 1971, Armin Baltensweiler took over as president of the directorial board and ran the enterprise for over two decades. In the same year, the first [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-200]] jumbo jet was acquired, and in the next year, the first McDonnell Douglas [[DC-10-30]] followed. Both types shaped the long-haul fleet until the 1990s. Again, the specifications of both aircraft were developed in collaboration with SAS. Also in 1972, Switzerland introduced a prohibition of night flights, which led to the cessation of cheaper night fares.

[[File:Swissair Boeing 747-200 Marmet.jpg|thumb|Swissair Boeing 747-200B (1971)]]
[[File:Swissair McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 HB-IHH "Basel-Stadt" (26090378125).jpg|thumb|Swissair McDonnell Douglas DC-10 (1972)]]

In 1973, the company struggled with severe turbulence: a currency crisis, collective chaos, an air traffic controllers' strike, the [[Yom Kippur War|October War]] and the [[1973 oil crisis|first oil crisis]] were weathered without significant damage. In the same year, the regional representative of Swissair in [[Buenos Aires]] was kidnapped by the [[Montoneros]]. After 38 days in captivity, he was released after the payment of {{FXConvert|CHE|12350714.15|cursign={{CHF|link=no}}|year=1973|showdate=no|index=CH}} ransom.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lüchinger |first1=René |title=Secret negotiations in Argentina freed Swissair executive in 1973 |url=https://www.nzz.ch/english/secret-negotiations-in-argentina-freed-swissair-executive-in-1973-ld.1653226 |access-date=1 November 2023 |work=[[Neue Zürcher Zeitung]] |date=3 November 2021 }}</ref> The airline also phased out the CV-990s during that time.

Swissair was the second European airline to offer service to the [[People's Republic of China]], introducing service to [[Beijing]] and [[Shanghai]] in 1975. In the same year, Swissair was the launch customer for the DC-9-51. In 1977, Swissair was the launch customer for the third DC-9 type, the DC-9-81 variant, now called the MD-80. Armin Baltensweiler had travelled to a meeting of the McDonnell-Douglas directorial board in St. Louis to convince them to further stretch the fuselage of the DC-9-51. Baltensweiler was called the "Father of the MD-80". In 1979, Swissair was the first company to order the [[Airbus A310]] and the jumbo jet variant with a stretched upper deck, the [[Boeing 747-300]]. Later on, the [[Fokker 100]] short-range aircraft and the three-engined [[McDonnell Douglas MD-11|MD-11]] were aircraft for which Swissair was the launch customer. 1983 saw the replacement of the older DC-9s with MD-83s.

Since the 1960s, Swissair has been a world leader in the development of cargo reservation systems (CRS). [[Programmed Airline Reservation System|PARS]] and [[CARIDO]] were examples of systems enabling the booking of passenger seats and freight space.<ref name="Keimzelle" />