SAIRGROUP SELLS 70% STAKE IN CROSSAIR

SAIRGROUP SELLS 70% STAKE IN CROSSAIR    The SAirGroup has applied for a moratorium of debt enforcement for the SAirGroup, SAirLines, and Flightlease companies, and will sell its 70-percent stake in Crossair to UBS and the Credit Suisse Group.
   UBS and Credit Suisse will grant the SAirGroup an additional bridging credit of CHF 250 million ($154.1 million) that will allow the group to finance activities in its airline-related business units up to a point where they might be sold.
   Crossair will assume responsibility for individual segments amounting to about two-thirds of Swissair's flight operations no later than the beginning of the winder schedules on Oct. 28.
   The trimming of Swissair's route network and fleet will result in the loss of 2,560 jobs, about 1,750 of those in Switzerland.
   The group said the impact on its industry of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington has hampered its ability to improve its liquidity and equity basis by selling off non-strategic business activities and refinancing its aircraft fleets. The group estimates that at the end of 2002 the negative influence on the cash flow and equity basis will be about CHF 3.1 billion to CHF 3.8 billion ($1.9 billion to $2.3 billion).
   A proposal for a moratorium of debt enforcement by SAirGroup, SAirLines and Flightlease will be made to the responsible court.