Swiss air

Swiss, Switzerland‘s national airline is looking to introduce a typical Swiss scent to its planes and check-in desks. But what exactly does Switzerland smell like?

There are the obvious candidates such as chocolate and cheese (imagine the smell of Fondue or Raclette on a 15 hour flight to Asia), there is the smell of Swiss flowers, or how about the dung of Swiss cows?

And in the context of Switzerland the question whether money smells is obviously inevitable. Money may not stink, as the Roman Emperor Vespasian famously said after levying a tax on urine from the city’s public lavatories, but some circles would no doubt disagree in light of scandals of money laundering and tax avoidance involving the country’s financial sector.

Exotic countries such as, for example, India can be identified by smells of spices, street food, animals, and last but not least unfortunately pollution. This is much more difficult for a civilised, orderly and clean country such as Switzerland.

In a paper researchers come to the conclusion that social identity influences olfactory senses: Swiss people identify more strongly with the smell of chocolate than in their case popcorn, which is not typically associated with Switzerland. Ask tourists how Switzerland smells, and they will most likely say that it smells clean and fresh, or that it smells of flowers, the woods and in summer of cut grass. This is not much of a surprise as nature and the countryside are an important part of Switzerland.

And how about the sounds of Switzerland? How about the clanking of cowbells ahead of any announcement at Swiss airports? Or a yodel introducing announcements by the cabin crew? Now these would most definitely convey and spread Swissness around the world.

As far as smells are concerned, how about getting the travellers accustomed to the smells of the destination ? The smell of beer in economy class on a flight to London (obviously it would have to be the odour of a pure malt scotch whisky in business and first class), or a whiff of hamburgers and fries on a flight to the USA?

I like to think that Switzerland smells neutral, clean and fresh – and of nothing in particular. So no need to bother about your passengers’ olfactory experiences, Swiss. What matters much more to us, the travelling public is getting to our destination on time.