Swissair’s handling of the Flight SR111 disaster near Halifax is back in focus in a new aeroTELEGRAPH podcast published on Sunday, with former communications manager Urs Peter Naef recalling how the airline reacted in the first hours and days after the crash of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11. Naef said he “functioned” for the first ten days as Swissair faced intense media scrutiny, a lack of confirmed information and mounting concern from relatives of the 229 victims.
The aircraft crashed into the Atlantic on 2 September 1998 while flying from New York to Geneva, and Swissair’s Zurich team had to improvise its response without a finished crisis handbook. Staff handled incoming calls, held an initial press conference while still knowing very little and focused on facts rather than speculation.
Naef also described efforts to shield families from intrusive reporting as journalists from around the world descended on the story. The account adds a first-hand perspective on how one of Europe’s most serious aviation disasters shaped crisis communication practices at Swissair and in the wider airline industry.