Edelweiss Air AG is a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

leisure airline,

charter airline Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a airline ticket, ticket through a traditional airline). Regulation Charter – also called air taxi or ad h ...

and the sister company of

Swiss International Air Lines Swiss International Air Lines AG, colloquially known as SWISS, is the flag carrier of Switzerland, operating scheduled services in Europe and to North America, South America, Africa and Asia. Zurich Airport serves as its sole hub and Geneva ...

. It operates flights to European and intercontinental destinations from its base at

Zürich Airport Zürich Airport (), french: Aéroport de Zurich, it, Aeroporto di Zurigo, rm, Eroport da Turitg is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zürich, Switzerland's larg ...

History

The airline was founded on 19 October 1995 in Bassersdorf, Switzerland, with just one aircraft, a

McDonnell Douglas MD-83 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

. The company's name is derived from the Swiss unofficial national flower, the

Edelweiss EDELWEISS (Expérience pour DEtecter Les WIMPs En Site Souterrain) is a dark matter search experiment located at the Modane Underground Laboratory in France. The experiment uses cryogenic detectors, measuring both the phonon and ionization signals ...

, which is also painted on its aircraft. The fleet was subsequently expanded and renewed. In 1998, new

Airbus A320-200 Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

s were introduced to replace the MD-83s, and in 1999 long-haul flights were commenced using the Airbus A330-200. For seven consecutive years between 2001 and 2008, Edelweiss Air received the golden ''Travelstar Award'' for its achievements. Until November 2008, Edelweiss Air was wholly owned by

Kuoni Travel Kuoni Travel is a tourism company, operating various services including charter and scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, and hotels in destinations around the world across nine different geographic regions. The company ...

and had 190 employees, when the operating rights were sold to

, in exchange for sale rights of hotel capacities via the Swiss sales network. Following Swiss International Air Lines being acquired by the German

Lufthansa Group Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), commonly shortened to Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. When combined with its subsidiaries, it is the second- largest airline in Europe in terms of passengers carried. Lufthansa is one of the five founding ...

in 2005, Edelweiss Air also became a subsidiary of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

's largest airline group at the same time it was acquired by Swiss. In March 2011, Edelweiss Air added the larger

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A34 ...

to its fleet, with an order having been placed on 5 April 2010. In July 2015, it was announced that Edelweiss would receive four

Airbus A340-300 The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus. In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wit ...

s between 2017 and 2018 previously operated by its parent Swiss International Air Lines. The aircraft were used to expand the route network. In November 2015, Edelweiss introduced a revised

livery A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...

on one of its

s which was subsequently applied to the rest of the airline's fleet. In December 2016, Edelweiss Air phased out its sole Airbus A330-200, which was transferred to

Brussels Airlines Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew ...

and replaced by

s inherited from parent Swiss. In 2021 Lufthansa moved Edelweiss Air's two

s to

Eurowings Discover Eurowings Discover is a German airline headquartered in Frankfurt. It is owned by the Lufthansa Group and serves leisure destinations around the Mediterranean, North America and the Caribbean from its bases at Frankfurt Airport and Munich Airp ...

.aerotelegraph.com
(German) 1 July 2021

Destinations

Fleet

Current fleet

Edelweiss Air Airbus A320-214 HB-IJU (26190479343)

Edelweiss_Air,_HB-JMD,_Airbus_A340-313_(47610165782)

, Edelweiss Air operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Edelweiss Air has previously operated the following aircraft:

References

External links

Official website
{{Lufthansa Airlines of Switzerland Airlines established in 1995 Companies based in the canton of Zürich Lufthansa