Planes are built to fly. But it’s still a special moment when a new aircraft takes off for the very first time. And that’s what happened today with SWISS’s first new Airbus A350-900, at the manufacturer’s Toulouse facility. It took the opportunity, too, to proudly unveil its name: Lausanne.

Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has marked a further milestone in the modernization of its long-haul aircraft fleet. The first of the company’s new Airbus A350s took off from the Airbus manufacturing facility in Toulouse today at 11:27 for its first test flight. In the course of the flight, which will last several hours, Airbus specialists will carefully monitor the aircraft and its performance with a focus on various areas thereof such as its aerodynamics, its steering and handling, its cabin pressure, its avionics and its electrical and air-conditioning systems. The aircraft is the first of ten A350-900s of which SWISS will take delivery.

SWISS’s first Airbus A350-900 completed its maiden test flight on August 6, taking off from Airbus’s final assembly line in Toulouse under the temporary registration F-WZHI. The aircraft is scheduled for delivery in early October, when it will officially join the fleet with the Swiss registration HB-IFA.