Swiss retires first of its last four Airbus A340-300s

Swiss has retired the first of its four remaining Airbus A340-300s. Registered HB-JMB, the aircraft flew for the last time on Wednesday, 14 October, leaving Zurich as LX5202 and landing about an hour later at Twente near Enschede in the Netherlands.

Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS) will break up the jet there. Technicians will first remove parts that remain Swiss property, an airline spokesperson said.

HB-JMB spent its entire career with Swiss. It was ordered shortly after the carrier was established in spring 2002, flew for the first time in July 2003 and was delivered on 26 September 2003. CH Aviation data shows it flew more than 110,000 hours on more than 12,300 flights, averaging close to 13 hours a day.

The other three will not necessarily leave the same way. The spokesperson said the retirement of HB-JMB starts a longer process running over the coming months, and that Swiss plans to mark the four-engine type's history publicly with various events.