Special liveries from Austria and Switzerland: Austrian, SWISS, Edelweiss and more

Red-white-red in Vienna, a red tail with a white cross in Zurich: you know the standard colors of the airlines from Austria and Switzerland by heart after a few spotting days. It gets exciting when an A320 in a 1980s look suddenly touches down, or a Boeing 777 with Johann Strauss motifs taxis to the gate. This guide collects the special liveries of Austrian, SWISS, Edelweiss and other airlines from Austria and Switzerland, separates current from historic designs and shows you how to get the one-offs in your viewfinder on purpose.

The short answer

If you’re looking for special liveries in Austria and Switzerland, you end up mainly with Austrian Airlines in Vienna and SWISS in Zurich. Over the years, Austrian has flown a strikingly large number of special paint schemes: retro designs, cultural motifs, advertising for major events and messages about climate and Europe. SWISS is more restrained and relies on a few, but very distinctive, one-offs. At Edelweiss, Helvetic, Chair and People’s, special colors are the big exception.

All registrations and periods in this article come from publicly available fleet overviews and airline statements, as of October 2026. Special paint schemes are temporary – check before every outing whether the aircraft you’re after still flies in the special design.

Why the prefixes matter: almost every targeted search runs through the registration. How the system behind it is structured is explained in the articles on Austrian OE registrations and Swiss HB registrations.

Austrian Airlines: the current special liveries

In standard form, Austrian flies a red-white-red design with an arrow logo on the tail, with white engine cowlings since the brand relaunch of 2018. In between, aircraft that look different show up regularly. According to the common fleet overviews, these special liveries were in service in fall 2026:

Registration	Type	Design	since
OE-LBO	Airbus A320-200	Retro look of the 1980s	February 2019
OE-LPF	Boeing 777-200ER	Johann Strauss	February 2025
OE-LBZ	Airbus A320-200	Star Alliance	October 2016
OE-LBY	Airbus A320-200	Star Alliance	February 2026
OE-LWH	Embraer 195	Star Alliance	September 2016
OE-LZN, OE-LZO, OE-LZP, OE-LZQ, OE-LZR	Airbus A320neo	“Less noise. Less CO₂. #makechangefly”	gradually 2022 to 2025

The retro A320 OE-LBO

The best-known one-off in the fleet. The Airbus A320 OE-LBO has worn a paint scheme in the style of Austrian’s look from the 1980s since February 2019. It thereby replaced its sister jet OE-LBP, which from March 2008 to February 2019 flew in an even older retro design from the 1950s. Anyone who has both in the archive thus owns two eras of Austrian history on two registrations. Because the A320 flies short and medium-haul, OE-LBO also comes to Germany regularly – with a bit of luck to your home airport. What retro designs at other airlines look like is shown in the overview of retro liveries.

The Johann Strauss 777 OE-LPF

Since February 2025, the Boeing 777-200ER OE-LPF has flown with motifs around Johann Strauss. 2025 was the year Vienna celebrated the 200th birthday of the Waltz King. OE-LPF has a special history behind it already: in 2018 it was the first aircraft in the new Austrian design and from May 2018 to February 2025 then wore a paint scheme for the “60 Years Flying” anniversary. For long-haul fans it is the most eye-catching motif of the current Austrian fleet – in Vienna you see it mainly around the times of long-haul departures and arrivals.

Star Alliance jets and messages on the fuselage

The Star Alliance aircraft OE-LBY, OE-LBZ and the Embraer 195 OE-LWH wear the shared design of the Star Alliance. With the E195, speed is of the essence: Austrian has announced it will phase out the Embraer fleet by the end of 2028. What is behind the alliance liveries and who else flies them is explained in the article on Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam liveries.

The A320neo group with “Less noise. Less CO₂.” is more a message than a full paint scheme: the lettering on the fuselage points to the quieter and more economical engines. They still count for the collection – and because there are now five of them, they are the easiest “special livery” in the fleet.

Austrian: the special liveries of yesterday

A look into the past shows why Austrian is considered a special livery airline among spotters. Many designs are history today and can only be found in archive photos:

Registration	Type	Design	Period
OE-LBP	Airbus A320-200	Retro, 1950s	2008–2019
OE-LPD	Boeing 777-200ER	“my Sound of Austria”	2017–2024
OE-LAY	Boeing 767-300ER	Life Ball	2017–2019
OE-LPB	Boeing 777-200ER	Life Ball 2014	April–June 2014
OE-LBS	Airbus A320	Eurovision Song Contest 2015	2015–2016
OE-LBA	Airbus A321	“myDreamteam”	2016–2018
OE-LBC	Airbus A321	Euro 2008 football championship with advertising partner	2007–2008
OE-LAL	Airbus A340-300	Vienna Philharmonic	2006–2007
OE-LZO	Airbus A320neo	“Yes to Europe”	April–November 2024
OE-LBN	Airbus A320-200	Expo 2025 Osaka	March–December 2025

Some of the stories behind them are especially appealing for collectors:

• Life Ball: For the well-known Viennese charity event, first the 777 OE-LPB wore a special design for a few weeks in 2014, later the Boeing 767-300ER OE-LAY from 2017 to 2019.
• Eurovision 2015: When the Song Contest took place in Vienna in 2015, the A320 OE-LBS flew in the matching design.
• The Philharmonic A340: The Airbus A340-300 OE-LAL was a tribute to the Vienna Philharmonic from 2006 to 2007. It then moved to SWISS and kept flying there as HB-JML – a nice example of how an aircraft appears under two registrations in two countries.
• Mozart Year and glacier look: For the Mozart Year 2006, an A320 got a Mozart design, and a Boeing 737-600 advertised Tyrol in a “glacier look”.

According to the trade press, the 767 leaves the Austrian fleet by the end of 2026. If you want to organize the types and designs of the past, the guide Collecting and documenting special liveries offers a method to record registration, design and period cleanly.

SWISS: a few but distinctive one-offs

You recognize SWISS by its red tail with the white Swiss cross. Since the logo change in fall 2011, even the company logo shows this tail fin. For special paint schemes, SWISS is much more sparing than Austrian. According to the common overviews, the status in fall 2026 looked like this:

Registration	Type	Design	Name	since
HB-IFA	Airbus A350-900	“Wanderlust”	Lausanne	October 2025
HB-IJN	Airbus A320-200	Star Alliance	Crans-Montana	February 2015
HB-IJO	Airbus A320-200	Star Alliance	Verbier	March 2015

The A350 HB-IFA is the highlight. The Airbus A350-900 is one of SWISS’s newest long-haul jets and has flown in the Wanderlust paint scheme since October 2025. Because it is used on long-haul routes, you practically only get to see it in Zurich – but there with predictable times once you know which rotation it is on.

The two Star Alliance A320s HB-IJN and HB-IJO, by contrast, are short and medium-haul jets and also land in Germany and Austria. A third Star Alliance A320, HB-IJM, returned to the standard design in February 2026 after a good eleven years.

Earlier SWISS designs

• “Faces of Swiss”: The Boeing 777-300ER HB-JNA wore this special paint scheme from January 2016 to February 2017 – then on the largest aircraft type in the fleet.
• “Fichtre”: The A220-300 HB-JCA advertised Western Switzerland from 2017 to 2018 and in 2019 wore a variant for the Fête des Vignerons, the great winegrowers’ festival in Vevey.
• “Hopp Schwiiz”: The A320 HB-IJM flew from December 2007 to December 2009 with this Swiss German cheer as its motto.
• Long-haul one-offs: There were also brief special phases on long-haul, for instance on the A330-200 HB-IQR (August 2008 to June 2009) and the A340-300 HB-JMJ (May 2010 to August 2011).

A retro livery in the style of the historic Swissair (1931–2002) doesn’t appear in the common overviews of SWISS special liveries. If you’re looking for Swissair colors, you’re left with a look into the archive or a museum. Background on legendary airline designs is provided by the article Legendary airline liveries in history.

Edelweiss, Helvetic, Chair and People’s

The smaller airlines of the two countries fly almost exclusively in the standard design. That is exactly why a close look is worthwhile.

Edelweiss wears a large edelweiss flower on the tail and the colors red and white. In 2015 the design was revised: the flower got larger and “Switzerland” was added on the fuselage. In August 2024 the airline presented a new color scheme again – older and newer photos of the same aircraft can therefore look different. The best-known special paint scheme is the A320 HB-JLT “Madrisa”, which has advertised the aid organization Help Alliance since May 2022. Because the four-engine A340 leaves Edelweiss by mid-January 2027, even the standard design on this type is now a subject with an expiration date.

Helvetic Airways flies Embraer jets in red, white and silver-gray with a Swiss cross on the tail. A one-off with a history: the E190-E2 HB-AZE was the 1,600th E-Jet delivered in 2020 and carried a “1600” marking under the cockpit at handover.

Chair Airlines looks confusingly similar to SWISS at the tail. The difference is made by the “chair” lettering and the stylized wave on the rear fuselage. No real special livery is known – more interesting are stand-ins from co-owner Enter Air, which fly in other colors under a Chair flight number.

People’s from Altenrhein on Lake Constance operates only a single Embraer 170 with an Austrian OE registration. There is no special paint scheme, but the aircraft itself is already a rare entry. You photograph it best at the Altenrhein aviation museum (Fliegermuseum) or in Vienna.

Historically exciting as well is Lauda Air (1979–2013). A Boeing 767-300ER of the airline, for example, bore the name “Frank Sinatra” and took off on August 30, 1999, for a twelve-day flight around the world. In 2011, only the Boeing 737-800 OE-LNK still wore Lauda Air colors.

Where to photograph the special liveries

The good news: almost all one-offs return regularly to their hub. So you don’t have to travel all over the place, just stand at the right airport at the right time.

Vienna-Schwechat is the turf for Austrian. Vienna Airport is the airline’s hub, and you see short and long-haul alike. For landings and takeoffs, the spotters’ hill (Spotterhügel) and the observation deck are good choices. The complete overview of spots, runway directions in use and light is provided by the guide Plane spotting in Vienna-Schwechat.

Zurich is home to SWISS, Edelweiss, Helvetic and Chair. At Zurich Airport, on a good day you get four Swiss airlines and, with a bit of luck, the Wanderlust A350 together. Well-known locations are the Butzenbüel and the spectator terrace B; you will find more details in the guide Plane spotting in Zurich.

Geneva is SWISS’s second base. Mainly the airline’s short and medium-haul jets land here. A good starting point is the observation terrace at Geneva Airport; tips are in the guide Plane spotting in Geneva.

The short-haul special paint schemes also come to you, though: Austrian and SWISS belong to the Lufthansa Group and regularly fly to the big German hubs. A retro A320 in Frankfurt or Munich is therefore no sensation, but always a reason to keep an eye on the registration. Which special designs the German airlines fly is collected in the article Special liveries of German airlines.

Getting to the aircraft you want in five steps

Which tools help you with this and how to set up notifications for particular aircraft is shown in the article Setting up alerts for aircraft, types and airlines. General strategies for finding special designs are in the guide Finding special liveries.

Common mistakes

• Using outdated lists: An overview from two years ago leads you to designs that were removed long ago – for example “my Sound of Austria” on OE-LPD, which has been history since October 2024.
• Confusing Chair and Helvetic with SWISS: All three wear a Swiss cross on the tail. Lettering, type and registration settle the attribution.
• Missing registration changes: Aircraft change operators. The Philharmonic A340 OE-LAL kept flying as HB-JML at SWISS – in the archive, those are two entries for the same aircraft.
• Underestimating messages: Lettering such as “Less noise. Less CO₂.” looks unspectacular but is often just as temporary as large paint schemes.

Conclusion

Austria and Switzerland are a compact hunting ground for fans of special liveries. Austrian has delivered the greatest variety for years, from the retro A320 OE-LBO to the Johann Strauss 777 OE-LPF. SWISS sets an exclamation mark with the Wanderlust A350 HB-IFA, Edelweiss with the Help Alliance A320 HB-JLT. Helvetic, Chair and People’s fly in the standard design but have stories of their own. If you know the registration, follow the deployment on the tracker and pick the right spot in Vienna or Zurich, you turn chance finds into planned hits.