Switzerland’s leading airline brings its all-new long-haul experience, with private First Class suites and a fully redesigned cabin in every class, to Johannesburg.
Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) has brought SWISS Senses, its new long-haul travel experience, to South Africa. Since 25 October 2026, the airline’s Airbus A350-900 featuring the new SWISS Senses cabin has operated SWISS’s daily flight between Johannesburg and Zurich, replacing the Airbus A340-300 on the route.
With 242 seats on every flight, the new A350 gives travellers 3,388 seats per week between South Africa and Switzerland. Return fares from Johannesburg to Zurich start from ZAR 12,500.
Fares across all travel classes on the new SWISS Airbus A350 will remain unchanged; however, a supplementary charge will apply to selected Business Class seats offering enhanced comfort and privacy. Compared with the Airbus A340, the A350 also provides approximately 12% greater seat capacity, creating additional travel opportunities between South Africa and Switzerland while further strengthening connectivity across the SWISS global network.
Johannesburg joins Boston, Seoul and Shanghai as one of the first destinations to receive the new cabin, which SWISS has introduced on its A350 fleet. The SWISS Senses product will gradually be rolled out also to SWISS’s wider long-haul fleet. The first A330 aircraft is currently being retrofitted with the new cabin in Hong Kong.
SWISS Senses covers the entire journey, but its centrepiece is a completely redesigned cabin across all four classes: SWISS First, SWISS Business, SWISS Premium Economy and SWISS Economy. Highlights include fully enclosed private suites in SWISS First for the first time, a choice of five seat types in Business Class including a new Business Suite with closable doors, and human-centric lighting designed to support travellers’ natural body clock and help reduce jet lag on the overnight journey to and from Europe.
“South Africa is a very important market for SWISS and the Lufthansa Group, and we are proud that Johannesburg is among the very first destinations to receive SWISS Senses,” says Rene Koinzack, Senior Director Sales North, East & Southern Africa, Lufthansa Group. “South African travellers know long-haul flying well, and they expect comfort, privacy and genuine care on an overnight flight. SWISS Senses delivers that in every class, from a larger personal screen in Economy Class to a private suite in First Class. Bringing the A350 to Johannesburg shows our commitment to this market and to offering our guests the best of Swiss hospitality from the moment they step on board.”
The SWISS Airbus A350-900 seats 242 guests: 3 in SWISS First, 45 in SWISS Business, 38 in SWISS Premium Economy and 156 in SWISS Economy. The cabin features a warm palette of anthracite, beige and bordeaux, premium materials and next-generation inflight entertainment with Bluetooth connectivity for personal headphones throughout.
SWISS Senses offers the following:
- SWISS First: Fully enclosed private suites with 1.8-metre walls make their SWISS debut. The Single Suite offers a 200 cm bed and a 32-inch 4K OLED screen, while the Suite Plus for two offers a 200 cm double bed and a 43-inch screen. Both include seat heating and cooling, a personal wardrobe and a wooden dining table for shared meals.
- SWISS Business: Every seat has direct aisle access, a fully flat bed of at least 2 metres and seat heating and cooling. Guests can choose from five seat types, including a Privacy Seat by the window, an Extra Long Bed Seat (2.2 m), an Extra Space Seat and the new Business Suite with closable doors and a 24-inch screen.
- SWISS Premium Economy: A hardshell seat with 99 cm pitch reclines without disturbing the row behind. It adds a privacy divider at the headrest, a 15.6-inch 4K OLED screen and wireless charging.
- SWISS Economy: Seats offer up to 99 cm of pitch, a six-way adjustable headrest, USB-A and USB-C charging and a 13.3-inch 4K OLED screen, among the largest in its class worldwide.
The service elements of SWISS Senses already apply on all SWISS long-haul flights to and from Zurich and Geneva, across all four classes, even where the new cabin is not yet installed.
The Airbus A350-900 is one of the most advanced long-haul aircraft flying today. The twin-engined aircraft replaces the four-engined A340-300 on the Johannesburg route. Its key features include:
- Around 25% less fuel consumption and CO₂ emissions compared with previous-generation aircraft
- A 50% less noise footprint compared with previous-generation aircraft
- A lightweight airframe built from more than 50% advanced composite materials
SWISS plans to operate ten A350-900s by the beginning of 2030.
Thanks to SWISS’s interline agreements with South African Airways (SAA) and Airlink, travellers can combine a feeder flight from cities across South Africa to Johannesburg with their SWISS long-haul flight to Europe in a single booking. Baggage is checked through to the final destination, and the partner airlines coordinate the transit in Johannesburg for a seamless journey.
From Zurich, SWISS and its Lufthansa Group partners connect travellers to the European cities most popular with South Africans, including Geneva, Munich, Paris, London, Brussels and Frankfurt.
Travellers can book SWISS Senses on the Johannesburg–Zurich route at swiss.com, through travel agents or via the SWISS app.
