Swiss Post gives stamp of approval to Solar Impulse

In a statement, Swiss Post said it wanted to pay homage to the achievement of Swiss pilots Bertrand Piccard and Andre Borschberg as well as the “visionary ambitions” of the Solar Impulse project, which aimed to showcase the possibilities of solar power.

Solar Impulse 2 landed in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday at 4am after touring the globe in 17 stages, the first of which began back in March 2015.

In total the plane had travelled 42,000 kilometres across four continents, two oceans and three seas, entirely without fuel, using only solar power.

It took off from Cairo on the final leg early on Sunday, having previously crossed Asia, North America, Europe and North Africa.

Solar Impulse 2 was greeted by the world’s media when it touched down in Abu Dhabi, as well as Swiss transport minister Doris Leuthard, who praised the achievement for highlighting the “innovation” of Switzerland.

10 most breathtaking photos from the first round-the-world #solar flight https://t.co/IpwYNFKq20 pic.twitter.com/Yhj27SC2y9

— SOLAR IMPULSE (@solarimpulse) July 27, 2016

The new stamp honouring the journey has a value of one franc and is available in a special booklet of eight stamps in post offices from Wednesday.

In the past 12 years the Swiss post office has on rare occasions issued special stamps commemorating the achievements of particular people, including Roger Federer’s record-breaking period as the world’s number one male tennis player in 2007, and the Alinghi sailing team winning the America’s Cup in 2004.

In February this year it issued a stamp to remember Switzerland's first female doctor, who died 100 years ago.