Plans by Switzerland's national carrier to join the British Airways' "oneworld" alliance are close to collapse, says "swiss" chairman.

Pieter Bouw told Swiss radio on Thursday that talks with BA were faltering over landing rights at London's Heathrow airport and fears that the partnership may simply be too costly.

"This would mean that swiss wouldn't get complete access to the global alliance of oneworld," said Bouw. The alliance is headed by British Airways and American Airlines.

So far, swiss has only managed to sign a code-sharing agreement with American. The company was created earlier this year from the ashes of collapsed Swissair and the regional carrier, Crossair.

The difficult alliance talks aren't the only problem faced by swiss. Bouw confirmed that the company would not make further concessions to its pilots over a unified work contract.

The former Swissair pilots have accepted the deal proposed by the management, but Crossair's have rejected it despite a salary increase. They say the new contract favours Swissair employees over Crossair pilots.

swissinfo with agencies

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