Background: The non-implementation of certain key initiatives of South African Airways’ (SAA’s) turnaround strategy poses a risk that SAA may not recover financially. Objectives: The establishment of SWISS (previously known as Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines) as a successor airline to Swissair’s liquidation was studied to determine the viability of closure and restart of a smaller successor state-owned airline as an alternative option to a sudden liquidation of SAA. Method: The study is based on a literature review of analysis, official reports and financial results. Results: Three distinct phases for the establishment of the successor airline for Swissair were identified: (1) Financial distress of the SAirGroup (Swissair’s holding company) and the factors which contributed to Swissair’s demise. (2) The transition from Swissair to SWISS. Swissair’s grounding was caused by a liquidity crunch followed the announcement of bankruptcy protection. Flight operations were restarted a few days later with financial support from both the State and the private sector. Some of Swissair’s assets, routes, staff and flight operations were transferred to a subsidiary, Crossair, as successor airline, later re-branded as SWISS. SWISS, however, continued to incur losses despite progressively reduced scale of activities and four restructuring plans. (3) As a Swiss-based national airline SWISS, which became profitable following its acquisition by Lufthansa. Conclusion: The transformation of SWISS as successor airline to Swissair is an option to mitigate the risk of a sudden service disruption of SAA. Serious pitfalls require detailed preparation and funding before implementation. SWISS only became successful following its acquisition by Lufthansa.

中文翻译：

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关闭和重新启动是可持续发展的南非国家航空公司的选择

背景：南非航空（SAA）的周转策略中某些关键举措的未实施会带来SAA可能无法从财务上恢复的风险。目标：研究建立SWISS（以前称为Crossair和Swiss International Air Lines）作为Swissair清算的继任航空公司，以确定关闭和重新启动一家较小的继任国营航空公司作为突然清算的替代选择的可行性SAA。方法：该研究基于对分析，官方报告和财务结果的文献综述。结果：确定了建立瑞航后继航空公司的三个不同阶段：（1）SAirGroup（瑞航集团的控股公司）的财务困境以及造成瑞航破产的因素。（2）从瑞士航空到瑞士航空的过渡。瑞士航空之所以停飞，是由于宣布破产保护后的流动性紧缩所致。几天后，在国家和私营部门的财政支持下，重新开始了飞行运营。瑞士航空的部分资产，路线，人员和航班运营已转移给子公司Crossair，作为后继航空公司，后来更名为SWISS。然而，尽管活动规模逐渐缩小和有四个重组计划，瑞士航空公司仍继续蒙受损失。（3）作为瑞士国家航空公司SWISS，在被汉莎航空收购后开始盈利。结论：将SWISS转换为瑞士航空的后继航空公司是减轻SAA突然服务中断风险的一种选择。严重的陷阱需要在实施之前进行详细的准备和资金投入。