In 1975, Switzerland moved a Convair 990 Coronado from Zurich to Lucerne. It took barges, closed roads and a considerable amount of nerve, and the whole country watched. Half a century later, they are seriously proposing to do it again — with something twice the size.

SWISS and the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, the Swiss Museum of Transport, announced on 8 September 2026 that they intend to put the last Airbus A340-300 from the SWISS fleet on permanent display in Lucerne. SWISS is giving the aircraft away. The museum has to work out how to get 125 tonnes of four-engined widebody from Zurich Airport to the shore of Lake Lucerne, and how to pay for it.

It is not a done deal. It is a plan with a deadline, and the deadline is the end of this year.

The end of the four-engine era at SWISS

For a long stretch of SWISS’s life the A340-300 était the long-haul fleet. Four engines, that unmistakable stretched profile, and the routes that connected a small country to the far side of the world. For a lot of Swiss travellers and a lot of SWISS crew it is simply what a long flight looks like.

It is also the last of its kind at the airline. When the A340 goes, SWISS has no four-engined aircraft left — the same quiet ending that has worked its way through almost every fleet in Europe as twins took over the oceans. That is really what this project is preserving: not one airframe, but the end of a way of flying.

It will stand next to the Coronado

The Verkehrshaus already has one four-engined Swiss long-haul jet: the Convair CV-990 Coronado, HB-ICC, in Swissair colours. The A340 would join it in the outdoor space in front of the Air and Space hall — and the museum is explicit that this is not a matter of parking an airframe in a courtyard. The plan is to stage the interior of the aircraft as an experience and make it the new centrepiece of the aerospace exhibition.

SRF archive footage of the 1975 Coronado transport to the Verkehrshaus — the precedent, and a fair preview of the scale of the problem.

125 tonnes, one lake, several cantons

The engineering is the fun part and the hard part. An A340-300 does not fit on a normal road, and Lucerne is not next door to Zurich Airport. The museum and the airline talk about detailed feasibility studies, special transports, structural adaptations on the museum site, and close coordination with the authorities — which is a polite way of saying that a great many people with clipboards have to say yes.

Then the aircraft has to be placed precisely on the museum grounds and integrated permanently into an exhibition that already exists around it. None of that is impossible. All of it is expensive.

The money, and the deadline

Here is where the project could still fall over. SWISS gives the aircraft; the Verkehrshaus pays for everything else, and current estimates put that at a high single-digit million figure. The financing has to be locked down by the end of 2026, and it is meant to come substantially from third-party money — foundations, patrons and companies.

A fundraising committee is already in conversations, and it has an unusually well-placed member: Christoph Franz, president of the Verein Verkehrshaus der Schweiz, and a former chief executive of SWISS. If anyone knows which doors to knock on for a project like this, it is the man who used to run the airline donating the aeroplane.

Until transport, permits and funding are all secured, no final decision gets made. The two organisations say they will report on the next steps once the current clarifications are further along.

Which leaves an aviation museum with a fixed-price problem of its own, a fifty-year-old precedent parked a few metres away, and about fifteen months to find the money. The Coronado made it in 1975. That is the argument, and on the evidence of the archive footage, it is a better one than it sounds.

Foire aux questions

Is SWISS really giving an Airbus A340 to a museum?

Yes. SWISS announced on 8 September 2026 that it intends to donate the last Airbus A340-300 from its fleet to the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz in Lucerne for permanent display, once the aircraft has finished its operational life. The aircraft itself is a gift; the museum bears the cost of moving and installing it.

When will the A340 arrive at the Verkehrshaus?

The target is early 2028, as stated by SWISS chief executive Jens Fehlinger. That date depends on three things falling into place first: the transport solution, the official permits, and the financing. Until all three are secured, no definitive decision has been made.

How much will it cost to move the A340 to Lucerne?

Current estimates put the total at a high single-digit million figure, covering the transfer from Zurich Airport, structural work at the museum site, and the staging of the aircraft’s interior as an exhibit. The Verkehrshaus carries those costs and must secure the financing by the end of 2026, largely through third-party funding from foundations, patrons and companies.

How heavy is the aircraft and how would it get there?

The A340-300 weighs around 125 tonnes. Moving it from Zurich Airport to Lucerne requires detailed feasibility studies, special transports, structural adaptations on the museum grounds and close coordination with the authorities. The museum describes it as a logistical and technical feat rather than an ordinary transport.

Where exactly would the A340 be displayed?

In the outdoor area in front of the museum’s Air and Space hall, next to the Swissair Convair CV-990 Coronado, HB-ICC, which is already on display. The plan is not simply to park it: the interior is to be staged as an experience and presented as the new highlight of the aerospace exhibition.

Has the Verkehrshaus moved an airliner to Lucerne before?

Yes. The Swissair Convair 990 Coronado was transported to the Verkehrshaus in 1975, an operation spectacular enough that SRF archive footage of it still circulates. That transport is the direct precedent for the A340 project — and a reminder of how complicated it was even for a considerably smaller aircraft.

Why does the last A340 matter to SWISS?

The A340-300 is the last four-engined aircraft type in the SWISS long-haul fleet. For many years it was the backbone of the airline’s intercontinental network, and its retirement marks the end of the four-engine era at SWISS — the same transition to twin-engined widebodies that has worked through almost every European long-haul fleet.

Sources: SWISS media release, 8 September 2026; Verkehrshaus der Schweiz; airliners.de; Tages-Anzeiger; Blick; 20 Minuten; SRF archive.