Lufttransportdienst des Bundes

A white business jet with Swiss national insignia and a serial like T-785 on the fuselage – if you get one of those in front of your lens in Bern, Zurich or Geneva, you have caught the Lufttransportdienst des Bundes (LTDB, Federal Air Transport Service). The LTDB is the Swiss answer to the German Flugbereitschaft (the federal government’s air transport service): much smaller, but with a versatile fleet from the EC135 helicopter to the Global 7500. Here you learn who is behind it, which aircraft belong to it, how to read the serials and where your chances are best.

The LTDB at a glance

The Lufttransportdienst des Bundes is not an airline. It is a military unit of the Swiss Air Force and operates the airplanes and helicopters in which the federal authorities travel. In French it is called Service de transport aérien de la Confédération (STAC), in English Federal Air Transport Service. In Switzerland its jets are usually simply called “Bundesratsjets” (Federal Council jets).

Its home is Bern-Belp Airport. Since January 1, 2005, all state flights have been with the Air Force; before that, part of the fleet was assigned to the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA/BAZL). When the units were merged, the former civil aircraft received military serials.

The tasks go beyond ministerial travel:

• State flights for members of the Federal Council, parliament and the federal departments
• Repatriation flights on behalf of the authorities
• Support for peacekeeping, for example for Swiss contingents abroad
• Disaster and emergency relief in humanitarian emergencies
• Aerial imaging flights for swisstopo, the Federal Office of Topography

Figures for 2022 show how intensively the fleet is used: in total, the federal airplanes and helicopters logged 743 flight hours, of which 635 with airplanes and 108 with helicopters. Most of this went to the Federal Council. According to its own statements, the government fully offsets the CO₂ emissions of the flights through certificates.

Codes, callsign and serials

With an airline like Swiss you look at the IATA code, flight number and HB registration. With the LTDB it works differently:

• No IATA code: The LTDB does not sell tickets and therefore has neither flight numbers nor a two-letter airline code.
• ICAO code SUI: Flights run under the code of the Swiss Air Force. On trackers you see SUI plus a number.
• Callsign “SWISS AIR FORCE”: This is how the crew checks in on the radio.
• T-serial instead of HB registration: The fuselage carries a military serial made of a letter and three digits.

The T stands for transport. The first digit shows the aircraft class: a 7 stands for fixed-wing aircraft, a 3 for helicopters. The article Swiss HB registrations explains how civil Swiss registrations are built.

Serial	Type	Role
T-787	Bombardier Global 7500	New long-range jet for the Federal Council
T-785	Dassault Falcon 900EX	Federal Council jet, built in 2008
T-784	Cessna Citation Excel	Small jet, built in 2002, being replaced by the Global 7500
T-729	Beechcraft 1900D	Turboprop for passenger transport; current status unclear
T-721	Beechcraft Super King Air	Passenger transport and aerial imaging flights for swisstopo
T-741	DHC-6 Twin Otter	Aerial imaging flights for swisstopo and transport
T-351, T-352	Eurocopter EC135	Helicopters for passenger transport

The fleet: from the EC135 to the Global 7500

The fleet is small but varied. For collectors that is an advantage: with fewer than ten aircraft you can in theory tick off the whole LTDB – in practice you need patience and good timing.

Bombardier Global 7500 – the new flagship

In August 2023, the Federal Council decided to procure a new state aircraft. The choice fell on a Bombardier Global 7500, the long-range model of the Global family from Bombardier. The cost was around 103 million francs. On December 17, 2024, Bombardier handed over the aircraft in Montréal, and two days later it landed in the evening at the military airfield Payerne.

The T-787 replaces the Citation Excel. Before full operation, modifications were still pending in 2025, including a self-protection system. For the first two years or so the jet is stationed in Payerne, after which Bern-Belp is planned as its location. As of October 2026, the move may therefore be coming up right now – check the current situation before a trip.

You can recognize the Global 7500 by its very long, slender fuselage with many cabin windows and the two engines at the rear. Its smaller siblings, the Global 5000 and Global 6000, look much stubbier by comparison.

Dassault Falcon 900EX – the Federal Council jet

The Falcon 900EX with serial T-785 has been the best-known face of the LTDB for years. The aircraft was built in 2008. Typical of the Dassault Falcon 900 are the three engines at the rear – one of them in the center with an air intake at the base of the tail. The manufacturer is the French Dassault Aviation.

Originally, the Falcon’s replacement was also under discussion. Because of the strained federal finances, however, the government postponed the replacement and wants to review it again later. So the Falcon stays with you for now.

Cessna Citation Excel – the phase-out model

The Citation Excel T-784 dates from 2002 and was long the smaller of the two Federal Council jets. With the purchase of the Global 7500, its end is sealed. Until the Global was fully operational, the Citation stayed in service as a stopgap. Whether it is still flying at the time of your trip is best checked beforehand. You know the family as the Cessna Citation Excel/XLS from private business aviation.

Turboprops and helicopters

For shorter routes and special tasks, the LTDB uses two turboprops. Sources name a Beechcraft Super King Air (T-721) and a DHC-6 Twin Otter (T-741); formerly a Beechcraft 1900D (T-729) was also part of the fleet. The turboprops also fly aerial imaging flights for swisstopo – so part of the aerial photos for Swiss national maps comes from Air Force aircraft.

In addition there are two Eurocopter EC135s (T-351 and T-352) for passenger transport. Today the type is marketed as the Airbus H135. You can find more on the topic in the article Spotting helicopters.

History: from the Bf 108 to the PC-24

State flights have a long prehistory in Switzerland, even though the LTDB in its current form has only been with the Air Force since 2005:

• Messerschmitt Bf 108 (from 1938): The Swiss Air Corps ordered 15 four-seat Bf 108s, actually for training. Because they could carry passengers, they also flew commanders between airfields and, after the war, diplomatic guests.
• Junkers Ju 52 (from 1939): Three “Tante Ju” (Aunt Ju) came to the Air Corps and later also took on transport tasks for the government. Their story is told in the article Ju 52 – Tante Ju.
• Beechcraft Twin Bonanza (from the mid-1950s): Because the Bf 108s showed fatigue damage, the government bought three Twin Bonanzas. They flew federal representatives for around 30 years.
• Learjet 35A (from 1987): Two Learjets came from Rega. One stayed in service until 2006.
• Pilatus PC-24 (T-786): The Swiss business jet from Pilatus was handed over in early 2019. Because its range was too tight for longer trips, the government sold it to a private company in October 2022.

You can see the historic aircraft of the Swiss Air Force at the Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf (Swiss Air Force Museum). Dübendorf remains an important Air Force site to this day, and from the museum at Dübendorf airfield you can combine history with current flight operations.

How to recognize the Federal Council jets

At first glance the Federal Council jets look like ordinary business jets. The decisive differences are in the details: instead of an airline logo they carry Swiss national insignia, and instead of an HB registration there is a T-serial on the fuselage. That serial is your most important piece of evidence in the photo.

With business jets, identifying the type is often the real challenge. Gulfstream, Global, Falcon and Challenger look similar from a distance. The article Telling business jet types apart offers detailed help, and you can find general tips under Spotting business jets.

Spotting the LTDB

There is no public schedule. Your chances depend on where you stand and which trips are coming up.

Bern-Belp is the home base and therefore the place with the greatest regularity. The airport is small and scheduled traffic is manageable – a state flight stands out here more than at a large hub. You can find information on the airport on the page for Bern Airport.

Payerne is an Air Force military airfield in Vaud and for now the location of the Global 7500. Military airfields have their own rules – read the article Photographing military airfields beforehand.

Zurich and Geneva bring in the Federal Council jets mainly when international guests arrive or Federal Council members travel to conferences. There you also see state aircraft from all over the world. You can find information on the airports at Zurich Airport and Geneva Airport. For the spots, the guides Plane spotting in Zurich and Plane spotting in Geneva help, as do the Zurich Airport spectator terrace B and the Geneva Airport observation deck.

Common mix-ups

• Taking the LTDB for an airline – it is an Air Force unit with no ticket sales and no IATA code.
• Taking every Swiss business jet for a Federal Council jet – only aircraft with a T-serial belong to it.
• Automatically equating SUI with a Federal Council jet – the whole Air Force flies under that code.
• Mixing up the Global 7500 and the Global 6000 – the 7500 has a much longer fuselage.
• Still counting the PC-24 in the fleet – it was sold in October 2022.
• Confusing the LTDB with Rega – Rega is an independent foundation with HB registrations, even though the LTDB once took over Learjets from there.

Conclusion

The Lufttransportdienst des Bundes is a small state fleet and, for exactly that reason, an appealing target. With the Global 7500 it has a new flagship, the Falcon 900EX stays for now, and turboprops and helicopters round it out. If you can read the T-serials, keep an eye on Bern-Belp and Payerne and follow the news, you turn chance sightings into a targeted hunt.