SWISS to donate last Airbus A340 to Swiss Museum of Transport

SWISS has unveiled plans to donate the last Airbus A340-300 in its fleet to the Swiss Museum of Transport, giving the airline’s four-engined long-haul aircraft a second life after it leaves commercial service.

The aircraft is expected to make its final journey from Zurich Airport to the museum in Lucerne in early 2028. The plans still depend on securing funding, regulatory approvals and a workable way of transporting the 125-tonne aircraft by land.

The project, announced by SWISS and the Swiss Museum of Transport, would preserve an aircraft type that has been a fixture of the Swiss carrier’s long-haul network for more than two decades.

“For many years, the Airbus A340 connected people in Switzerland with the world and, in doing so, became a piece of Swiss aviation history in its own right,” SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger said. “If one of these aircraft can live on at the Swiss Museum of Transport, it would bring this story full circle in a very special way. Our goal is therefore clear: we want to bring this A340 to Lucerne in early 2028.”

SWISS A340 will become an interactive museum exhibit

The aircraft would occupy an outdoor area in front of the museum’s aviation and space hall, but it will be more than a static display. The museum plans to create an in-aircraft visitor experience and incorporate it into its Aviation and Space Travel exhibition.

Martin Ettlinger, Director of the Swiss Museum of Transport, described acquiring the aircraft as “a unique opportunity to preserve an important piece of Swiss aviation history and make it accessible to the public.”

“This majestic aircraft would be a tremendous addition to our Aviation and Space Travel exhibition,” Ettlinger said.

The museum already preserves another significant four-engined Swiss airliner: a Convair 990 Coronado formerly operated by Swissair.

Adding an A340 would let visitors see two generations of four-engined Swiss long-haul aircraft as the country moves further into the twin-engined era.

The museum, which opened in 1959, maintains a nationally significant collection documenting the development of road, rail, water and air transport.

Getting a 125-tonne A340 to Lucerne will be a ‘complex undertaking’

Donating the aircraft is comparatively straightforward. Getting it from Zurich Airport to the museum will not be.
The A340 weighs around 125 tonnes in the condition envisaged for the move. SWISS and the museum must determine how to transport the aircraft from the airport to Lucerne, manoeuvre it onto the museum grounds, and install it permanently.

“Bringing an aircraft of this size to Lucerne, however, is an enormous and highly complex undertaking. We are doing everything we can, together with SWISS and other partners, to make this extraordinary project possible,” Ettlinger said. 

The project will require feasibility studies, specialist transportation equipment, structural work and coordination with authorities.

Some degree of dismantling will almost certainly be required to move an aircraft with a wingspan of more than 60 metres over land, although SWISS and the museum have not yet detailed the proposed transport method.

According to SWISS specifications, the A340-300 is 63.66 metres long, 60.3 metres wide and 16.63 metres high.

The logistical challenge comes with a substantial price tag. SWISS will provide the aircraft at no cost, but the museum must pay for its transportation, structural modifications and conversion into a visitor attraction. The current estimate is in the high single-digit millions.

The museum must secure financing by the end of 2026, primarily through contributions from foundations, patrons and companies. A fundraising committee involving Christoph Franz, president of the Swiss Museum of Transport Association and a former SWISS CEO, has begun discussions with potential supporters.

The project is, for now, conditional. A final decision will only be made once transportation, permits and financing are secured.

A340 retirement marks the end of an era at SWISS

The museum plan comes as SWISS progressively replaces the A340 with the Airbus A350-900.

As of March 2026, SWISS listed four A340-300s in its fleet, alongside its Airbus A330s, Boeing 777-300ERs and a growing fleet of A350-900s.

The A340 is now SWISS’s only remaining four-engined passenger aircraft. Its departure will therefore end the airline’s use of four-engine jets. The aircraft have become increasingly rare as long-haul airlines have shifted toward large, more fuel-efficient twin-engine aircraft.

SWISS is replacing them with the A350-900, which the airline says produces around 25% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than the aircraft it replaces and has substantially lower noise emissions.

The carrier originally planned to acquire five A350s before adding another five in 2024. The ten A350-900s are scheduled to enter the fleet progressively through 2031.

The new aircraft also introduce the airline’s SWISS Senses cabin, a significant improvement over the interiors aboard its older A340 fleet.

SWISS expects to have five A350s in service by the end of 2026.

One SWISS A340 could outlast the fleet transition with retirement in Lucerne

For SWISS, the A340 has particular historical significance. The four-engine aircraft helped establish the airline’s long-haul network after the collapse of Swissair and became one of its most recognisable aircraft types.

The planned museum aircraft would provide a permanent reminder of the generation that preceded those new twinjets.

Its preservation would also give visitors unusual access to a complete modern widebody airliner, rather than simply a cockpit or individual components.

If it can overcome the engineering, regulatory and financial challenges, SWISS hopes its last A340 will trade long-haul flying for a permanent home in Lucerne in early 2028.