Swiss returned to service the Airbus A320 registration HB-IJO on Tuesday, with a flight between Zurich and Berlin. The aircraft was the last one in storage due to the coronavirus pandemic.
During the health crisis, the Swiss carrier decided to store 25 of its aircraft in Amman, Jordan, due to the dry climate, ideal for keeping the jets in flying condition.
The HB-IJO spent 1,180 days in the desert until leaving Amman on Sunday. A Swiss team inspected the A320 manufactured in 1997 and then prepared it for flight.
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“We are delighted to welcome the last of our Jordan-stored aircraft back to our flight operations and return our working fleet to full size,” says SWISS Head of Technical Fleet Management Claus Bauer. “Our specialists have made huge efforts over the last few months to ensure that every one of our stored aircraft was brought back to Zurich in faultless technical condition. It’s been a massive undertaking for everybody involved in which every detail counts.”
According to Swiss, the A320 HB-IJO is one of the airline’s oldest aircraft, having accumulated 63,596 flight hours and 45,042 takeoff/landing cycles in its more than 26 years in service.
