Swiss International Air Lines will commence its new non-stop service between Zurich and San Francisco on 2 June. To mark the event, the airline has come up with a “first” in its corporate history: one of its Airbus A340s – the biggest aircraft in the fleet – will be sporting a colourful and flowery design together with striking “San Francisco” lettering as a tribute to the West Coast city’s famed flower power past.

The launch of the new route has been preceded by extensive preparations. At Zurich Airport alone, a team of eight individuals spent three days applying the new colour scheme to the 63-metre-long aircraft. The work involved the use of almost 400 square metres of special film. And the “flower power” A340, registration
HB-JMJ, is now ready to operate SWISS’s first flight to San Francisco on 2 June. The final design was chosen from a selection of three by the readers of the
20 Minuten daily paper. Around 30 000 readers voted, and their choice will remain on the aircraft for more than a year.

Customers aboard the “San Francisco” aircraft can expect a further highlight inside. HB-JMJ is the first of SWISS’s A340s to be equipped with the new SWISS Business cabin, with its unique seating arrangement and the generous space it provides and seats that feature an innovative air cushion whose firmness can be swiftly and flexibly adjusted to individual wishes, to name just two of the new cabin’s many benefits. Under current plans, a second A340 should have the new SWISS Business cabin installed by mid-July, enabling the new Business Class product to be offered to travellers on all Zurich-San Francisco flights.

Source and photo: SWISS