Edelweiss is looking at the Airbus A350 as an alternative to the A340

Although no decision has been made yet, Edelweiss is leaning towards the A350 when it comes to replacing its long-haul fleet, the Swiss airline confirmed to CH-Aviation.

“We are currently planning to replace our long-haul fleet with a more modern and efficient type of aircraft. We are evaluating different options, with an eye on the Airbus A350. This type of aircraft would make sense for us because we are already an Airbus operator that our pilots can fly long-haul,” a spokesperson said via email. And short and they will continue to benefit from it.

It was responding to a request after reports emerged that six A350s would join the Edelweiss fleet in 2025, including four A350-900s. All aircraft are from the inventory of the former Latam Airlines Brasil and are owned by Deucalion Aviation. It has been stored in Victorville since around mid-2021, when the Brazilian airline retired it.

The Lufthansa Group has already confirmed that it will take delivery of four A350s from the former Latam Airlines group, but has not yet announced which subsidiaries will take delivery. According to data from “CH-Aviation”, most of the five A340-300s currently in the Edelweiss fleet will be retired from 2026.

Successor model “largely certainty of Airbus”

Edelweiss chief Bernd Bauer had already indicated to Aerotelegraph in February that the airline was considering the A350 as a replacement for its A340-300, although it was expecting a sixth such aircraft from parent company Swiss in June. When the plane arrived late, the airline borrowed Airbus A330-300s and Boeing 777-300ERs from Switzerland.

We are Airbus operators. We benefit from the fact that our pilots can fly both long and short distances. I would like to keep that. The next model will almost certainly be Airbus. Switzerland has chosen one, and then you can imagine that the efforts The efforts made at Edelweiss are also going in the direction of the A350.”

In December 2022, Switzerland confirmed that it would take delivery of five A350-900s ordered by parent company Lufthansa Group to replace four of its A340-300s. However, Edelweiss Air operates an independent fleet renewal programme. According to “CH-Aviation”, Lufthansa has ordered 44 Airbus A350s, including 34 A350-900 and ten A350-1000. The group’s current fleet consists of 34 Airbus A340 aircraft, 17 of which are A340-600 and 17 are A340-300.

This article is in a similar format at the beginning Published by our partner CH-Aviation.