Swiss takes delivery of first A321neo

Swiss (LX, Zurich) took delivery of its first of eight A321-200Ns on order from Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) following the arrival of HB-JPA (msn 9417) at Zurich airport on Friday, September 18. The octet of twinjets is all powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1133Gs and seats 215 in an all-economy class layout albeit with a moveable dividing curtain. The aircraft will collectively replace Swiss’s existing fleet of six A321-100s and three A321-200s. A subsidiary of Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int’l), Swiss expects to debut A321neo operations on October 1 with service from Zurich to Palma de Mallorca and Berlin Tegel. After that, Vienna and Porto will follow on October 2, Athens Int’l on October 3, Lisbon on October 4, and Malaga and Belgrade on October 5.