Suisse Par Avion Airline Poster Swissair par avionSwissair was
founded on 26 March 1931 after the merger of the two main
competing Swiss airlines, Ad Astra Aero AG and Balair. The new
airline was legally named Schweizerischer Luftverkehrs AG but
went under the commonly used name of Swissair. First Swissair
flights were using the fleet of Fokker 7B/3M aircraft on
domestic and European services - those same routes that the two
merged carriers had flown. Swissair also used the the modern and
fast American designed Lockheed Orion from 1932 on the Zurich to
Munich route. DC2s were used by 1935 and Swissair is said to be
the first airline to employ stewardesses (claimed also by a US
airline and a British carrier). The DC-2 aircraft were to set
high standards for European scheduled operations. The DC-2 was
new to European airline operations and it competed well against
the older European designs of the age. Swissair inaugurated a
new service between Zurich and London via Basle with the new
airliners in 1935.