Swiss has retired another Airbus A321 and flown it to Teruel, Spain, for dismantling, with the aircraft’s final ferry flight from Zürich completed on 7 September. The airframe, registered HB-IOH, had been in service for nearly three decades and previously flew for Swissair before entering the Swiss fleet. It is now being broken up after a last commercial sector from Luxembourg to Zürich on 31 August.
HB-IOH was delivered to Swissair in March 1997 and accumulated 74,371 flight hours and 47,632 cycles over 29 years. Before scrapping begins, engines, the auxiliary power unit and other reusable components will be removed and returned to Zürich. Swiss still has eight aircraft in its fleet that once operated for Swissair, underlining how the airline continues to phase out older legacy narrowbodies while harvesting parts from retired frames. The Teruel site remains one of Europe’s best-known aircraft disassembly centres and handles full teardown work for aircraft at the end of their service life.