(Adds pledge from shareholder AMAG, updates shares)
By Annika Breidthardt
ZURICH, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Shares in Swiss International Air Lines rose as much as 11 percent on Monday on hopes the cash-strapped Swiss carrier would soon wrap up a long-awaited deal to give it extra liquidity.
The volatile shares were up seven percent at 12.95 francs by 1430 GMT after peaking at 13.50 francs. They have gained a quarter since the start of the year, helped by hopes the airline industry may pull out of a tailspin.
Swiss has asked for around 400 million francs ($319 million) in liquidity, and talks about the credit with top Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse Group and two British banks had made much progress over the past months, banking sources said.
But a deal is not yet signed, they added.
They said questions remained over collateral. Banks have asked for aircraft to be put up as security, but because the planes are leased and financed through complex agreements, this involves striking deals with leasing companies.
With the collapse of its predecessor, Swissair, still fresh in everybody's minds, none of the potential lenders wants to move alone. The banks have made it clear that they will grant a credit only if other shareholders chip in as well.
BREAK THE DEADLOCK
Comments from Swisscom at the weekend could break the deadlock. Its chief executive, Jens Alder, said the telecoms operator was ready to lend the carrier money if other investors did so too.
Switzerland's car import empire, AMAG, which holds a 6.4 percent stake in Swiss, said it would grant Swiss a 10 million franc credit and try to get other shareholders to do the same.
"A national airline is important for Swiss business," AMAG owner billionaire Walter Haefner, one of Switzerland's richest men, said in a statement.
Swisscom itself declined to say whether it would move ahead with its loan offer -- conditional on others chipping in -- after AMAG's decision to help Swiss.
Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Patrik Schwendimann said the market's hopes for a signing of a credit deal could help Swiss stock. "However, what is decisive for the grant of the credit will nonetheless be the operational development of Swiss."
Loss-making Swiss, which burned through 1.7 million francs a day in the third quarter of 2003, reports full-year results on March 23.
In the latest of a series of management shake-ups, Swiss on Monday appointed Willy Schnyder as vice president of marketing and sales in Switzerland, succeeding Stefan Gutknecht.
LEND A FRACTION
Alder said he assumed any additional lending would be a fraction of the 100 million francs that Swisscom put up when Swiss was created in late 2001 in a public-private rescue to salvage a national airline after Swissair collapsed.
Many Swiss firms rallied to the airline by contributing to the 2.7-billion-franc national rescue package, but few are now enthusiastic about pumping in more money.
They included drugmakers Novartis , Roche Holding and Serono ; insurers Swiss Re and Zurich ; cement group Holcim ; chemicals groups Ciba and Givaudan ; food giant Nestle and tech group Kudelski .
"We were a contributor as a shareholder," a Nestle spokesman said. "But we are an industrial company, not a bank."