Lufthansa Group Carrier Swiss got a glimpse of its first Airbus A350-900 ahead of delivery at the end of this summer.
The first A350 registered with HB-IFA was unveiled at Airbus' Toulouse facility, featuring special colouring based on the theme of “Wonderlast”.
Star Alliance Operator says the special colouring is not a painting job, but a series of over 360 precision cut films applied to aircraft. The motif consists of images of sports and cultural events, Swiss landmarks and buildings, but the design was projected onto the aircraft using 3D software.
“(Airbus) then split the resulting 'image' into 360 precision cut films. Each of these was manually applied to millimeters at the fuselage or assigned location of the engine nacelle,” Switzerland said.
Carrier adds that this is the biggest film European aircraft have applied to aircraft.
The A350 is the first of 10 examples offered by Switzerland. Initially, we disclosed five people's commitments in 2022 and doubled our orders in December 2024.
The new wide body, taken from the wider Lufthansa Group order, replaces the old Swiss A340-300. All 10 A350s for the Swiss fleet will be in operation by 2031.
