Financially-troubled Swissair cancelled all flights Tuesday and grounded its planes – the first major airline to buckle from the added financial devastation caused by the Sept. 11 attacks.

Swissair's creditors impounded two of the airline's planes in London for non-payment of fees. Several other planes were ordered held in other European countries.

Swissair said it was then forced to ground all its planes, fearing they too would be seized because the airline does not have enough money to pay its fuel bills.

It wasn't clear when its planes would be flying again.

Swissair was in rough shape long before last month's attacks. It lost $1.8 billion US last year as a result of a botched foreign expansion plan. The attacks made a bad situation much worse.

The airline filed for protection from its creditors on Monday.

Two Swiss banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, came up with a rescue package Monday that was worth 1.4 billion Swiss francs ($1.3 billion). As part of the move, Swissair announced a huge restructuring that will leave regional subsidiary Crossair in control of its assets. But Swissair Group's $17 billion debt remains.