Swiss Air Transport Foundation appoints Board of Trustees

22 July 2005

The SWISS Board of Directors has appointed the members of the Board of Trustees for the Swiss Air Transport Foundation. Bruno Gehrig will serve as chairman of the foundation. The four other trustees are Raymond Cron, Thomas Bieger, Claudio Generali and Conrad Meyer. The foundation's mandate is to support the development of air transport and its infrastructure in Switzerland. SWISS will establish the foundation under Swiss law in the coming weeks. The foundation is to exist for ten years.

The five members of the Swiss Air Transport Foundation (hitherto known by its working title "Darbada Foundation") have been determined by the SWISS Board of Directors after consultation with key stakeholders. Raymond Cron will represent the Swiss Confederation and Conrad Meyer will represent Canton Zurich. The SWISS Board of Directors further named as trustees Bruno Gehrig, Thomas Bieger and Claudio Generali. Bruno Gehrig will serve as the foundation's chairman.

Pieter Bouw, Chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors commented: "I am pleased that we have succeeded in appointing top-quality Swiss personalities to the foundation's Board of Trustees. The foundation will play an important advisory role in representing Switzerland's interests during the integration of SWISS in the Lufthansa airline group. Beyond this, it will also endeavour to ensure air transport connectivity for Switzerland."

Board of Trustee

Bruno Gehrig, Doctorate in Economics, is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Swiss Life Group and deputy chairman of the Board of Directors of Roche Holding. Following his academic career as a Professor of Business Administration at the University of St. Gallen, Gehrig, 59, was a member of the Governing Board of the Swiss National Bank from 1996 to 2003. On the political front he served as chairman of the economic policy study group for Switzerland's Christian Democratic Party (CVP) from 1984 to 1991.

Thomas Bieger, Doctorate in Economics, is Professor and Director of the Institute of Public Services and Tourism at the University of St. Gallen. Bieger, 44, also holds a teaching post at the University of Lugano and is a member of the Board of Directors of Jungfrau Holding AG.

Raymond Cron is Director of the Federal Office for Civil Aviation (BAZL). Cron, 46, holds a degree in civil engineering from the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). Before joining the Federal Office for Civil Aviation in May 2004, he spent seven years with the Batigroup in an executive function.

Claudio Generali, M.B.A, is currently deputy chairman of the SWISS Board of Directors and was until recently chairman of the Board of Directors of the Banca del Gottardo. Generali, 62, is deputy chairman of the Board of Directors of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and also holds directorships with Batigroup and Schindler Elettronica.

Conrad Meyer, Doctorate in Economics, Professor and Director of the Institute for Accounting and Controlling at the University of Zurich since 1991. Meyer, 55, also serves on various expert bodies and corporate boards, among them that of the NZZ Group, of which he is chairman.

An observer to be determined by Lufthansa will also take part in the foundation's meetings.

Purpose of the foundation

The Swiss Air Transport Foundation will support the development of air transport and its infrastructure in Switzerland, with an emphasis on connectivity. The foundation will also support the integration of SWISS into the Lufthansa airline group and in this way endeavour to ensure that Switzerland's interests are given due consideration. To this end the foundation will convene several yearly meetings with the SWISS Board of Directors and the airline's Management Board at which it will gather information on all topics relevant to SWISS. The foundation's mandate permits it to express its views on general issues relating to air transport in Switzerland.

The Swiss Air Transport Foundation is further mandated to make non-binding, confidential recommendations to SWISS and Lufthansa management on topics of strategic importance to SWISS.

SWISS Board of Directors

The process of integrating SWISS into the Lufthansa Group will involve an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders that will take place during the third quarter, at which the Board of Directors is to be reduced from eight to five members. Two of the five members will be determined by Lufthansa, the other three by the Almea Foundation. Following Lufthansa's complete acquisition of SWISS, this entitlement is to be reduced to two members. Following the completion of the take-over by Lufthansa, the Swiss Air Transport Foundation assumes the entitlement to nominate two Swiss members of the SWISS Board of Directors. It retains this entitlement for three election periods of three years each.The Foundation is further entitled to nominate one member of the Lufthansa Supervisory Board.