Crossair, the regional carrier which is part of the Swissair Group, reported on Wednesday that it lost SFr17.8 million ($10.44 million) in the first six months, compared with a loss of SFr6.1 million for the comparable period last year.

However, Crossair said comparisons of its financial situation within the industry were "favourable".

In a statement, the company said sales revenue from flight operations rose by six per cent to SFr640 million.

The Basel-based airline also said that because of the economic downturn, mainly in the second quarter, revenue fell "some way short" of its target.

Route network changes

Crossair introduced measures to maximise profit and reduce costs, early in the year. It changed the route network for summer flights, which improved earnings by SFr30 million, the company said.

In the first six months, Crossair carried 1.5 million passengers on scheduled services, six per cent more than in the same period of the previous year, the company said.

The charter business did well, and despite a reduction in capacity by two aircraft, the result was above expectations, according to the statement.

The total number of passengers carried by Crossair dropped by one per cent to 2.9 million due to the reduced capacity in the charter business.

Last year, Crossair made a loss of SFr25.2 million, largely due to high fuel costs and the high United States dollar exchange rate.

swissinfo with agencies

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative