SWISS’ first Airbus A350 aircraft entered revenue service over the weekend.
The airplane, registered as HB-IFA and nicknamed “Lausanne,” flew from Zurich to Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on Saturday with 233 passengers on board.
The A350 was delivered to SWISS by Airbus earlier this month. It sports a special livery featuring iconic Swiss landmarks and cultural motifs.
“This first revenue passenger flight of our new Airbus A350 is the result of many months of hard behind-the-scenes work,” SWISS COO Oliver Buchhofer said in a news release. “Introducing a new aircraft type is always a major undertaking, in technical, operational, and commercial terms. Our people both on the ground and in the air have performed painstaking preparations to make this moment happen.”
For the next few weeks, SWISS’ first A350 will fly on short-haul routes within Europe to destinations like Mallorca, Prague, Düsseldorf and Hanover in Germany, and Málaga, Spain. This will give the carrier’s pilots time to further familiarize themselves with the type and complete their conversion training, SWISS executives said.
On Nov. 20, the aircraft will begin long-haul service between Zurich and Boston.
SWISS has ordered 10 A350-900s, and all of them are being fitted with a new cabin design concept known as SWISS Senses. The layout incorporates a dark red-gray-beige color scheme, lighting synced to passengers’ circadian rhythm, and entertainment systems with larger screens.
The SWISS Senses concept will eventually be extended to the airline’s current fleet of A330-300s and Boeing 777-300ERs.
