Swiss International Airlines or more commonly referred to as Swiss is the national flag carrier of Switzerland and part of the Lufthansa Group. It was was originally founded as SwissAir on 26 March 1931 after its humble beginnings as Ad Astra Aero in 1919. SwissAir was one of the worlds fastest growing airlines during the 1960's and 1970's and referred to as the Flying Bank due to its financial security which is ironic due to its financial performance and bad management. SwissAir was part of what was called the SwissAir group which held many subsidiaries one of which was CrossAir (LX) a regional airline that operated services from Zürich to Nuremberg, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. CrossAir later merged operations with the debt ridden SwissAir to its ever growing network. SwissAir was competing heavily against the likes of British Airways, KLM and Air France but was hindered by over expansion and excess capacity operating to many long-haul destinations from their soul hub in Zurich International Airport . SwissAir was flying to North America, South America, Africa and Asia against a backdrop of economic downturns. The airline became so laden with debt after many failed mergers and finally declared bankruptcy in March 2002. At this point the Swiss government stepped in renaming the carrier Swiss International Airlines and by 2005 Swiss International Airlines bought out and taken over by Lufthansa the German carrier part of the Lufthansa Group of Airlines. By 2006 Swiss International Airlines halved it's losses making a net profit of $220 million. By 2021 Swiss International Airlines operated a fleet of 72 Airbus aircraft and 12 Boeing 77's. with four cabin classes First, Business, Premium Economy and Economy class. They fly to 102 destinations across 44 countries and are a full member of the Star Alliance. Additionally they own and operate Edelweiss Air as their leisure arm which they purchased from Kuoni in 2008. Edelweiss operates both short-haul and long-haul seasonal charters and scheduled services to 65 destinations using an all Airbus fleet with a three class configuration.