The bankruptcy of Swissair descended into chaos yesterday as the airline was forced to halt all its flight operations around the world amid bitter acrimony between the Swiss national carrier and its banks.
The airline said that despite intensive efforts throughout the day it had been unable to obtain the liquidity needed to secure daily business and safe operations.
Thousands of Swissair passengers were left stranded at airports around the world uncertain as to whether their tickets had become worthless overnight.
Other airlines cancelled interlining agreements, which normally allow passengers with unrestricted tickets to switch on to other carriers. Swissair advised its passengers last night "to buy a ticket on another airline".
Staff at Zurich Airport, Swissair's headquarters, were besieged yesterday by confused and angry travellers. Ms Sandra Siller, a member of Swissair groundstaff, said management had called thousands of Zurich-based staff to a briefing yesterday afternoon to break the news.
"Some people cried, others just sat there in disbelief," she said. "At first we couldn't believe it: Swissair was the status symbol of Switzerland."
In a further humiliation for the Swiss flag carrier, it was announced yesterday that the Swiss football team, due to play a qualifying match in Moscow on Saturday, would have to get there using Aeroflot, the Russian national carrier.
Mr Mario Corti, Swissair chairman and chief executive, said: "We were not able to continue flight operations because the resources that were promised were not made available in a timely fashion."
He said the Swiss bank UBS, which had led the attempted SFr1.35bn ($835m) rescue on Monday night, had "been made fully aware of the catastrophic consequences of a shutdown of the airline".
But UBS said it and Credit Suisse, the other bank involved in the attempted rescue, were not responsible for the "path that led Swissair to this crisis".
Suppliers at Zurich airport refused to deliver jet fuel without pre-payment, while at London's Heathrow airport two Swissair aircraft were seized until the carrier was able to pay its landing charges. Swissair said it was uncertain "at this time when flight operations will resume".
Crossair - the Swissair subsidiary - was last night authorised immediately to take over short and medium-haul flights in Europe from Swissair by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation. The Swiss carriers long-haul flights still remain grounded but the formal transfer of routes between Swissair and Crossair has been set in motion.
The authorisation deals only with routes which Crossair already serves for Swissair as well as 11 European Swissair destinations.
