Swiss national airline loses 200 million Swiss francs in 1st quarter BASEL, Switzerland (AP) =97 Switzerland's national airline Tuesday announced= =20 it lost 200 million Swiss francs ($155 million) in the first quarter and=20 said that "further drastic" cuts would be needed. "The results reflect the= =20 extremely difficult economic environment currently affecting all airlines,= =20 a situation which has been exacerbated by the war in Iraq and the SARS=20 virus," said Swiss International Air Lines, or Swiss. The results were=20 little changed from a loss of 199 million Swiss francs for the three months= =20 ended March 31 a year earlier. The airline, which was formed with the help= =20 of the Swiss government in March 2002 on the foundation of the collapsed=20 Swissair, said its revenues increased to 1.04 billion francs ($812.5=20 million) from 489 million francs during the same quarter a year earlier.=20 Swiss, which plans to cut costs by 600 million francs ($468 million) this=20 year, said, "In view of the current situation affecting the air travel=20 industry, further drastic cost-cutting measures will have to be= implemented." The company has made similar announcements earlier this year without being= =20 very specific. Swiss media reported over the weekend that Switzerland's=20 flag carrier may cut as many as 3,000 jobs and reduce its long-haul fleet=20 to 18 planes from 26 as part of its announced restructure. By the end of=20 March, the payroll had been reduced to 10,521 employees from 10,606 at the= =20 end of last year. The company said its liquidity stands at 913 million=20 francs ($713 million), and that shareholders' equity stands at 1.49 billion= =20 francs, adding that it expects to reduce the rate at which it uses cash in= =20 the next few months. The company posted a net loss of almost 1 billion=20 francs in 2002. It hopes to break even next year at the earliest. Its fleet= =20 of around 110 aircraft is considered too big =97 and the airline too=20 unprofitable =97 for it to join a major airline association, such as= OneWorld=20 alliance, led by U.K. British Airways PLC and AMR Corp.'s American=20 Airlines. The company has reportedly been in talks with Germany's Deutsche= =20 Lufthansa AG. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************