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This information is provided by: Smiliner Website
BAE 146-AVRO RJ Crossair Fleet information
Crossair is a subsidiary of Swissair. It ordered four BAe 146-200s in December 1989, with options for eight more, for delivery from October 1992. While awaiting delivery of its own aircraft, it acquired three ex-USAir aircraft and began BAe 146 services on 18 June 1990, with flights from the airline's base at Basel to Münich and Amsterdam. To emphasize the greater size of the BAe 146s compared to the turboprops it had previously operated, Crossair dubbed the aircraft the 'Jumbolino', and decorated it with an impression of Disney's flying elephant. Crossair became the first airline to operate jets at London City when it inaugurated a service from Zürich on 30 March 1992. Services from Basel to London Heathrow were also introduced on 25 October, using the series 300. Crossair was the first airline to take delivery of an Avro RJ, when it formally received an RJ85 at a ceremony in Basel on 2 April 1993, at which time the airline also introduced a new livery. The inaugural RJ85 service took place on 25 April, with a flight to London Heathrow. The other three RJ85s on order followed in May, July, and August. The three 146-200s were handed over to BAe as part payment, but remained on lease with the airline, as did the series 300. One series 200 was transferred to British airline Business Air, which Crossair had a stake in at the time. The other two series 200s were eventually returned to BAe in late 1993. The airline's BAe 146 fleet soon grew again, however, when a second series 300 was leased from BAMA for one year to cover for late deliveries of SAAB 2000s. Swissair decided in early 1995 to hand over all the routes it had operated with aircraft of 100 seats or less to Crossair. To operate these routes, Crossair announced an order for 12 Avro RJ100s, along with options on 12 more, on 31 March of that year. Deliveries of the RJ100s began in October of 1995, and then proceeded at the rate of about one a month, with each Avroliner replacing a Swissair Fokker 100. The two series 300s were also returned to BAe at this time. Crossair's use of the Avro RJ has not been entirely trouble-free. At one point, CEO Moritz Suter complained publically that reliability was lower than expected. Nevertheless, the airline was sufficiently satisfied that in December 1997 it ordered an additional four Avro RJ100s. Three of these have now been delivered (again with registrations working backward through the alphabet, beginning with HB-IYZ), bringing Crossair's Avro RJ fleet to 20 (4 RJ85s and 16 RJ100s). Since early October 1999, one RJ100 has been kept on stand-by at the airline's Basel "Eurocross" hub in attempt to alleviate the effects of the ATC delays that are plaguing Europe.
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