Switzerland: ‘Pure Swiss Air’

Above the Crowds: a new element was introduced to the winter sports arena with the advent of piston-engined propeller aircraft. Standards of airworthiness in design and maintenance improved, and high hopes were entertained for the future of ‘air expresses’. Ad Astra Aero, founded in 1919, started the ball rolling in the long history of Swiss civil aviation. Charter and joy-riding operators followed, and the first ‘air hostesses’ in Europe walked down the aisles in Swiss passenger transport aircraft. By the late 1930s, the all-metal fuselage of the Douglas DC-3 was a familiar sight above the slopes.

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