Airbus A321 HB-IOC, which was built in 1995, carried multiple names in the course of its Swissair and SWISS service. Originally named Neuchâtel, it was subsequently renamed Lausanne during its Swissair days, after the seat of the International Olympic Committee, in view of its ‘IOC’ registration. And in its SWISS years it bore the name St. Moritz, in honour of the famed Swiss alpine resort. To many at the company, though, she was always the ‘Old Lady’, the ‘Olympic Plane’, or just IOC. 

This special member of the SWISS fleet made her final flight a few months ago. Why she meant so much to so many people, and what’s special about the whole aircraft phase-out process, you can find out in our video. So come with us on HB-IOC’s last flight. And learn, too, how we ensured that many of her components could be re-used as part of our SWISS integrated life cycle management. 

Continual fleet renewal 

SWISS has one of Europe’s most advanced aircraft fleets, and invests continually in its renewal. Operating state-of-the-art aircraft is currently the most effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. And if the air transport sector is to achieve its carbon emission objectives, it must ensure that its older aircraft are replaced with new and more fuel-efficient successors. 

Two years ago, SWISS took delivery of the last aircraft in its order of 30 new Airbus A220s. Since then, the focus has been on adding the new Airbus A320neo and A321neo to the SWISS fleet. With their latest-generation engines, their aerodynamic enhancements and their noise-reducing components, these aircraft are both considerably quieter and more fuel-efficient than the transports they replace: the A320neo, for instance, consumes some 20 per cent less fuel than its A320ceo predecessor. And SWISS’s older A320s and A321s are being steadily replaced by the new ‘neo’ generation.

Integrated life cycle management 

In addition to reducing its emissions, integrated life cycle management is a further vital element in SWISS’s corporate responsibilities. Which is where Airbus A321 HB-IOC comes into the story again. Because when it came to phase out its celebrity Olympic Plane, SWISS went even further in its constant endeavours to optimize its sustainability credentials. In fact, the phase-out of HB-IOC served as a pilot project to trial various actions that could make the company even more sustainable in dealing with the elements of a withdrawn aircraft, in both economic and ecological terms. 

As the phase-out of HB-IOC confirmed, SWISS is on the right track. And on the strength of this experience, the company has now established a new standard procedure under which, ahead of every such phase-out, it will first identify those components that can be used directly as spares for the remaining aircraft fleet. SWISS is also steadily building up an expertise in how various further parts of a withdrawn aircraft can be used to make designer furniture or other accessories that give it a new lease of life in a totally different guise. In the concrete case of HB-IOC, various parts of the cabin interior are being re-used within the Lufthansa Group – to upgrade its cabin simulators, for example. 

Throughout these dismantling and recycling processes, SWISS makes a point of collaborating solely with partners that are correspondingly certificated for the work concerned. Non-reusable parts and components are recycled in full compliance with the company’s integrated life cycle management, with a particular emphasis on recovering aluminium and other high-value alloys.