FLEET - Edelweiss Air to add six A350-900s

 Edelweiss Air (WK, Zurich) has confirmed that it will replace its existing fleet of five A340-300s with six A350-900s. Deliveries will begin in the Summer 2025 season with the entire fleet rollover expected to conclude by the end of 2026.

The airline said the initial four aircraft will be ex-LATAM Airlines Brasil (JJ, Sao Paulo Congonhas) units and will be delivered in the Brazilian carrier's configuration albeit with "slight modifications to the cabin and Edelweiss design" due to supply chain issues affecting the global MRO sector. They will seat up to 339 passengers with 30 business class, 63 economy plus, and 246 economy class seats. The Swiss leisure specialist, a subsidiary of Swiss (LX, Zurich), plans to eventually reconfigure the aircraft to its own specifications but did not provide any dates.

The ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows the aircraft will be N285BN (msn 35), N286BN (msn 45), N287BN (msn 79), and N264AR (msn 363). All four are currently stored at Victorville, following the retirement of the type by LATAM Airlines Group, and are owned by Deucalion Aviation Funds.

"The other two aircraft were also originally ordered by LATAM Airlines. They will be in service with another operator until the transfer to the Lufthansa Group. For this reason, the MSNs will only be announced at a later date," the airline told ch-aviation.

LATAM Airlines Brasil operated thirteen A350-900s, but the other nine aircraft have already been taken over by Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson).

According to the ch-aviation fleets history module, the airline operated up to six widebody aircraft between 2018 and 2021 which, at that time, comprised four A340-300s and two A330-300s. Edelweiss Air retired the A330s during the COVID-19 pandemic, transferring them to fellow leisure specialist EW Discover (Frankfurt International). Besides the A340s, the airline continues to operate thirteen A320-200s.

The airline said it would deploy the A350s on existing routes but eventually plans to use their superior range to launch new services from Switzerland.

CH Aviation