There was no press release and no farewell party. On Wednesday, 14 October, SWISS Airbus A340-300 HB-JMB took off from Zurich as flight LX5202, rocked its wings three times in salute, and flew for about an hour to Twente airport near Enschede in the Netherlands. It will not fly again.

HB-JMB is the first of the last four A340s in the SWISS fleet to go. After more than 23 years and over 110,000 hours in the air, the four-engined long-hauler is now in the hands of Aircraft End-of-Life Solutions (AELS), which will take it apart for parts and recycling.

A Quiet Goodbye

According to aeroTELEGRAPH, HB-JMB was ordered shortly after SWISS was founded in spring 2002. It made its first flight in July 2003 and was delivered on 26 September 2003. It then spent its entire career with the airline, flying SWISS’s long-haul network from Zurich.

The numbers show how hard it worked. More than 12,300 flights and more than 110,000 flight hours, according to ch-aviation data, works out at almost 13 hours in the air for every day of its 23 years. Long-haul jets earn their money by staying airborne, and HB-JMB did exactly that.

Its departure was unannounced, but not unnoticed. Spotters at Zurich filmed the last take-off, including the three wing waves the crew gave as a final salute:

Parts First, Then the Recycling Yard

At Twente, SWISS technicians will first remove certain components that stay with the airline. Only then will AELS dismantle the airframe. A SWISS spokesperson explained the plan to aeroTELEGRAPH:

That is standard practice for an ageing widebody. Engines, landing gear, avionics and many smaller parts can keep the rest of a fleet flying for years, or be sold on to other operators. What is left of the airframe is then broken down and recycled.

The Last Four-Engined SWISS Jets

With HB-JMB gone, SWISS has three A340-300s left: HB-JMA, HB-JMH and HB-JMI. The airline has not set retirement dates for HB-JMA and HB-JMI. HB-JMH will be the last to fly, until at least the first quarter of 2028, according to aeroTELEGRAPH. The A340s are being replaced step by step with twin-engined Airbus A350-900s.

HB-JMH may not end up in a recycling yard at all. In September, SWISS and the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne announced plans to put the last SWISS A340-300 on permanent display there. Financial, technical and regulatory questions still have to be solved before that happens. SWISS has also said it plans public events to mark the end of the A340 era.

The A340 has been the last four-engined type in the SWISS fleet. When HB-JMH finally lands for the last time, the airline will fly twins only, and one more classic widebody will have left European skies.

Sources: aeroTELEGRAPH; ch-aviation; Simple Flying; Aviation Reporter (@TripppleSeven7)