SWISS names Airbus A340s “Basel” and “Liestal”

SWISS long-haul Airbus A340s HB-JMC and HB-JMD will carry the names “Basel” and “Liestal” all over the world from now onwards. The names of the city and the town in Northern Switzerland were formally bestowed at EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg this afternoon in a ceremony attended by SWISS CEO Christoph Franz, Regula Gysin-Grieder, the Mayor of Liestal, Hanspeter Gass, Head of Safety & Security for Canton Basel-Stadt, SWISS Vice President Paul Kurrus and various representatives from the business and tourist sectors of the Basel region.

Two further SWISS jets now carry the names of Swiss towns and cities in line with the airline’s new aircraft naming concept. An Airbus A340 was specially flown from Zurich to EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg this afternoon (with flight number LX 7510) for the formal naming ceremony. “We are delighted that SWISS is showing its particular appreciation of the Basel region by bestowing these names on its aircraft,” said Regula Gysin-Grieder, the Mayor of Liestal.

As Switzerland’s second-most-important business and industrial region, the city of Basel and Canton Basel-Land are indeed of major importance to SWISS. That importance was reflected last January in a further substantial expansion of SWISS services from EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg which raised from four to ten the number of destinations served directly from the airport.

“Today’s naming ceremony underlines the importance of the EuroAirport to our route network,” confirmed Christoph Franz, CEO of SWISS. “The trinational region around Basel is a vital SWISS market. And we are extremely pleased that, after a phase of restructuring, we can now grow again in response to demand, and can strengthen our presence at the EuroAirport again, too.”

Hanspeter Gass, Head of Safety & Security for Canton Basel-Stadt, was equally delighted at the naming ceremony and the new bearer of the Basel name. “Basel is home to SWISS’s head office, and SWISS is the second-biggest employer at the EuroAirport,” he explained. “And both SWISS, as our national airline, and Basel, as the domicile of numerous globally-active corporations, have an international dimension that extends far beyond Switzerland’s borders, and are ambassadors of Swiss quality and reliability.”

Paul Kurrus of SWISS thanked the governments and the people of cantons Basel-Stadt and Basel-Land on behalf of the entire SWISS workforce for the generous support they had given the new airline in its earliest days. The naming ceremony was attended by around 100 invitees, who thoroughly enjoyed the event with the Airbus A340 which had been specially flown in for the occasion.