Swiss plans to replace A340s with A350s

AeroTelegraph is reporting that the CEO of Swiss has said during an event it has set its sights on the Airbus A350-900 to replace its current fleet of A340-300s. The airline was deciding between the Boeing B787 and the Airbus and has selected the Airbus due to its wider cabin and longer fuselage, which will enable it to offer a superior first class-cabin. Swiss hopes to welcome the first A350 in 2025 and is set to make a final decision before the end of this year.

It's expected that Swiss' new widebody jets will be coming from Lufthansa Group's orderbook for the A350. In total, the Group has ordered 45 A350-900s, of which seventeen have so far been delivered.

Swiss currently operates a fleet of five A340-300s, next to fourteen A330-300s and twelve Boeing B777-300ERs for its longhaul-operations. The A340s are almost twenty years old and in total the airline flew with fifteen of them.

Leisure sister-company Edelweiss Air will continue to operate its four A340-300s, with a fifth on the way. All these aircraft are former Swiss. To replace these in the future, it's expected that Swiss will move some of its A330-300s to Edelweiss when they start replacement of that type. A decision about that is due next year.

Photo by Anton Homma.