On June 10, Swiss International Air Lines officially inaugurated its new Boeing 777-300ER (77W) on its first regularly scheduled daily service to the United States. The debut flight took off from Zà¼rich/Kloten Airport (ZRH) and arrived at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The 77W is the first Boeing product in Swiss’s mainly-Airbus fleet, and carries 55% more passengers than the Airbus A340-300 (343) it replaces on the ZRH-LAX route. Its first 77W, HB-JNA (delivered on January 29) with its special “Faces of SWISS” livery, made the flight.
A Swiss 777-300ER (HB-JNA) in special “Faces of SWISS” livery – Photo: Swiss
Swiss gave the public a CGI-based video preview of the all-new aircraft and completely redesigned interior, and AirlineReporter was the first to confirm the delivery date of HB-JNA. We were also one of the few media to be invited to LAX for the inaugural events to take a look with our own eyes. Were we disappointed?
The entry foyer on the new Swiss 777-300ER – Image: Youtube | Swiss
Swiss International Airlines, part of the Lufthansa Group, will take delivery of their first of nine new Boeing 777-300ERs (77W) on January 29, 2016. Miriam Oliviera, the airline’s Head of Marketing & Public Relations for the Americas, confirmed the date in a phone conversation on Thursday.
The 777 series is a new addition to Swiss’s previously all-Airbus fleet. Currently, the Zurich-based carrier relies on the Airbus A330/A340 series wide-bodies for long-haul service, as well as the Airbus A320 series for its narrow-body fleet.
Cheers: Mini-cabin that offers additional seclusion and privacy, connection efficiency at the Zurich hub Jeers: No hot meal offered for second service, despite nearly 10-hour flight length, aging and clunky IFE Overall: A leading long-haul business class product from an EU carrier, needs a few updates to make it more competitive in the future
Tis the season for fooling. It is hard to know what is true and what is not true on this day. Some airlines have really gotten into it and come up with great April Fool’s news stories. Who says airlines can’t have a sense of humor? Here are the ones I have found so far:
If you run into any more April Fool’s jokes done by airlines (or airline-related) let me know and I will add it to the list with a little shout out to you.
