Edelweiss Air of Switzerland has announced plans to overhaul its long-haul operations by acquiring the Airbus A350s.
The carrier will acquire six Airbus A350-900s from the summer season of 2025 and, as such, phase out its current fleet of Airbus A340-300s.
Acquiring the Airbus A350s by the summer of 2025 has been made possible thanks to LATAM, which removed the type from its operations as it undergoes bankruptcy protection and a substantial restructuring. This means while the A350s won’t be brand new, they’ll be relatively young and accessible from an earlier point than if ordered organically from Airbus.
By 2026, Edelweiss will offer one of the youngest long-haul fleets in Europe and believes the Airbus A350 is the necessary step in the right direction.
Per current feet data, Edelweiss has 18 aircraft in service, with five representing the Airbus A340-300s. These quad-engined aircraft average an age of 20 years, with its other fleet type, the A320-200, accounting for 13 units and averaging 18.3 years.
Thus, acquiring the A350 will substantially bring down the overall fleet age and vastly improve efficiency in the long term.
