The aircraft naming tradition is said to have its roots in the maritime world. Ships and boats have long been given largely female names, in the hope that the lady concerned might watch over the crew (and any passengers) and keep them safe from harm. With aircraft namings, the aim is more to create an emotional bond between man and machine.

Almost every airline in Europe tends to give its aircraft names. The range of inspirations here is vast, as each carrier seeks its own individual theme. KLM, for instance, names its Boeing 787s after flowers, and thus has a Zonnebloem (sunflower), an Anjer (carnation) and a Hibiscus in its Dreamliner fleet. TAP favours writers from its native Portugal, while SAS of Scandinavia names its planes after prominent Vikings.

Lufthansa opts for geography, with its aircraft bearing the names of German cities or states. And SWISS’s sister carrier Edelweiss adopts the same approach, but with its own particular twist: since 2016, its aircraft have carried the names of locations in Switzerland where the edelweiss flower grows.The naming tradition is much less established in the United States and Asia, where aircraft rarely carry an additional name. One exception is Thai Airways: Thailand's national airline also names its aircraft after places in its home country, such as Si Ayutthaya.

And SWISS?
SWISS has carried its keen focus on ‘Swissness’ into its aircraft naming policy, too. Many members of the SWISS aircraft fleet are named after Swiss cities, towns or regions. And great care is taken when doing so to pay due regard to the country’s various language areas and to its cultural and touristic variety. HB-JNK, for instance, SWISS’s eleventh Boeing 777, is named Luzern after the popular tourist destination in Central Switzerland. Its four Airbus A340s are named Frauenfeld, Zürich, Chur and Schaffhausen. And within its third long-haul subfleet of Airbus A330s, thirteen of the 14 aircraft carry the name of a Swiss town or city on their hull, ranging from A for Appenzell to S for St. Gallen. On the short-haul front, SWISS’s latest fleet additions, the Airbus A320neo family, are being named after well-known Swiss tourist destinations such as Engelberg, Riederalp, Pontresina, Elm, Mürren and Wildhaus.

‘Win your name on an A220!’
When it came to naming its Airbus A220 short-haul twinjets, SWISS came up with a very special idea. To help mark its 20th anniversary last year, the company invited Switzerland’s tourist resorts to tell it why they should have a SWISS aircraft named after them. The contest, which was held in collaboration with Switzerland Tourism, was designed to highlight the sheer breadth and diversity of Switzerland’s tourism landscape and its many tourist resorts large and small, and to carry their names far and wide.

The 50-odd entries that the competition attracted were assessed by a SWISS judging panel for their creativity, originality, authenticity and ‘SWISSness’, and the 20 which were deemed the best each earned their submitting resort the honour of having a SWISS A220 named after it. And while 17 of the winners received their name on the aircraft, an exclusive naming certificate and a model of ‘their’ plane, the three best entrants of all won a full naming ceremony in a SWISS airport hangar. Viamala (in Canton Graubünden) was so honoured at the beginning of this year; Bad Zurzach (in Canton Aargau) will enjoy its naming ceremony in early September as part of Zurich Airport’s ‘Flughafenfest’; and Nendaz (in Canton Valais) will have its ‘naming day’ at the end of this year

A live naming at the ‘Flughafenfest’
One of SWISS’s two remaining aircraft namings this year will be held at Zurich Airport on Saturday 4 September as part of the ‘Flughafenfest’ celebrating the airport’s 75th anniversary. And in addition to the selected invitees from the political and the tourism worlds, members of the public attending the event will also be able to see Airbus A220 Bad Zurzach have its name formally unveiled. SWISS’s 20th-anniversary aircraft naming programme will then be concluded at the end of this year with the A220 Nendaz naming ceremony at Geneva Airport