Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) operated the inaugural passenger flight of its new Airbus A350 on October 25, 2025.
The flight was the airline’s first revenue service, carrying 233 passengers on board, the airline announced in a statement on October 25, 2025. This aircraft is the first of 10 Airbus A350s scheduled to join the SWISS fleet by 2031.
The Airbus A350-900 departed from Zurich (ZRH) on flight LX2152 to Palma de Mallorca (PMI) at 07:11 local time, traveling 666 miles in one hour and 50 minutes. The aircraft also featured the brand new ‘SWISS Senses’ long-haul cabin.
“This first revenue passenger flight of our new Airbus A350 is the result of many months of hard behind-the-scenes work,” said SWISS COO Oliver Buchhofer. “Introducing a new aircraft type is always a major undertaking, in technical, operational and commercial terms.”
According to SWISS Chief Financial Officer Dennis Weber, the airline is currently investing CHF 1 billion (USD $1.26 billion) annually to enhance the premium flight experience for passengers.
“Our new Airbus A350 is the most visible evidence of all these investments. Our advanced new twinjet will set new benchmarks in the way our customers fly with us – more comfortably, more efficiently and more sustainably than ever before,” Weber said.
SWISS to roll out A350 across European routes
The airline said that the new Airbus A350 HB-IFA, named Lausanne, will operate flights to European cities such as Prague, Hanover, Düsseldorf, Málaga, and Palma de Mallorca in the coming weeks.
All pilots involved have already completed takeoff and landing practice without passengers as part of their A350 basic flight training, and flying the aircraft in real conditions is the next phase of their training, the airline added.
According to SWISS, these shorter European flights are “a key element in the service entry” of the new A350 before it begins its intended long-haul operations.
During this transitional period of short-haul service deployments, travelers can book economy and business class tickets as usual, while seats in the A350’s premium economy class will be sold as economy class seats with extra legroom.
SWISS said that the first class cabin will not be available for booking on these A350 short-haul flights, as the accompanying service, which accounts for a large part of the new SWISS First experience, will only be offered on future long-haul flights.
The next milestone in the program is set for November 20, 2025, when HB-IFA will make its inaugural flight on the Zurich-Boston route.
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