SWISS is celebrating a new type of aircraft joining the fleet – the Airbus A350-900.
SWISS’s first A350 landing at Zurich – Image, SWISS International Air Lines.
HB-IFA was ferried from Airbus Toulouse to Zurich Airport – its new home – on Thursday, 9th October, landing at 15:25, to be greeted by a large number of employees and aviation fans watching from the airport’s observation deck, as well as a water arch welcome.
The new addition to the SWISS fleet bears a special colour scheme: its unique ‘Wanderlust’ livery, which is a striking and lively homage to Switzerland in all its finery and diversity.
This aircraft will be the first to feature the SWISS Senses cabin onboard, configured in a four-class layout, offering three suites up to four seats in First Class, 45 seats in Business, 38 in Premium Economy, and 156 in Economy seats.
Europe, the Boston
SWISS’s first A350 – Image, Airbus.
For the next few weeks, SWISS will initially operate its first new Airbus A350 on short flights within Europe, to enable its pilots to complete their practical training on the new twinjet as efficiently as possible.
The first A350 revenue passenger flight has been scheduled from Zurich to Palma de Mallorca on 25 October. The new aircraft’s first long-haul service will be to Boston on 20 November.
This will also be the first SWISS service to operate with both the new SWISS Senses cabin and the recently introduced new long-haul inflight service. The new cabin has been devised and developed together with the Lufthansa Group, which has enabled this and the associated certifications to be met.
In Quotes
SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger said:
With our Airbus A350, we’re transporting our customers into a new era of long-haul air travel. This aircraft represents everything we aim to be moving forward: efficient, advanced, and clearly positioned as a premium airline, from Switzerland and for Switzerland. With the A350 we’re taking a huge leap forward – technologically, ecologically, and in terms of our passengers’ inflight experience. It’s a very special thing to welcome a brand-new aircraft with a completely new cabin – something that will probably happen only once in anyone’s airline career. And it’s fascinating to see just how much progress and how much precision are embodied in this aircraft.”
“With our new SWISS Senses cabin, we’re bringing new levels of comfort and quality to the air travel world,” adds SWISS Chief Commercial Officer Heike Birlenbach. “For our guests this means more space, a more relaxing ambience, and a more individual air travel experience, from the light above the seat to the entire inflight service. Our new Airbus A350 stands for ‘premium’ as we understand it: modern, individual and hallmarked by a service that is attentive, personal and typically Swiss.”
A new step forward
For SWISS, it’s a major launch, as the airline will launch not only a new aircraft but a new cabin type to support this operation. Given this, there are going to be plenty of eyes on the airline as it prepares for its first flight to Palama for familiarisation, and its first long-haul flight to Boston.
It’ll be interesting to see the feedback, as well as the deployment of the new cabin.
A total of ten Airbus A350-900 aircraft are due to join the SWISS fleet – something to look out for in the coming years. For now, those who want to find out more can head to SWISS’s micro-site at https://www.swiss.com/gb/en/discover/a350.
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