Qualiflyer

Qualiflyer was a frequent-flyer program and, to some extent, an airline alliance created in April 1992 by Austrian Airlines, Crossair and Swissair. When Swissair began acquiring stakes in other European airlines in 1998, Qualiflyer was extended to become their frequent flyer programs as well. This spawned the alliance known as The Qualiflyer Group. With the failure of Swissair in 2002, the group dissolved along with the program and a company was formed to give each former member airline an individual frequent-flyer program.

==History== Qualiflyer was formed in April 1992, as Europe's first frequent-flyer program, for Swissair, Crossair and Austrian Airlines. Originally, Swissair's partner airline Crossair and its high-end hotel chain Swissôtel also participated in the program. Qualiflyer's affiliation with one of the world-class airlines caused membership to grow quickly to 2 million members in the first eight years. After that, other airlines joined the program, and the program received even larger amounts of membership.