Swissair
Swissair launched the stretched-upper-deck Boeing 747-300, flying five of them — three as Combis — alongside two 747-200s between 1971 and 2000, retiring the jumbo two years before the airline itself collapsed.
Swissair’s place in 747 history rests on a single decision: it was the launch customer for the 747-300, the variant that stretched the upper deck from a lounge-sized bubble into a full cabin.
Two 747-200s first
The airline took two 747-200s in 1971, named Genève and Zürich. They served Swissair’s North Atlantic and Far East routes through the 1970s and were retired in 1984 — before the aircraft that replaced them had even fully settled in.
Launch customer for the -300
Swissair ordered the 747-300 on 11 June 1980 and took delivery of the prototype airframe in March 1983. It operated five 747-357s: two standard -300s registered in the United States until 1992, and three -300M Combis that split the main deck between passengers and freight. The enlarged upper deck was put to premium use, which was the point of the variant — more space on the deck passengers preferred.
The Combi configuration suited Swissair’s mix of high-value passengers and time-critical cargo on the same long, thin routes.
The quiet ending
Swissair’s last 747 left the fleet in 2000, two years before the airline’s sudden collapse in 2002. No Swissair 747 was lost in an accident, and the airline’s exit from the type came without fanfare — it had simply bought a smaller, more efficient successor in the MD-11.
Related
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the primary and institutional references below.
- What happened to Swissair's Boeing 747s? — Simple Flying
- Boeing 747 launch customers by type — Simple Flying
- Swissair fleet list — Aerobernie
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