Edelweiss Air AG is a

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

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and

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and the sister company of Swiss International Air Lines and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. It operates flights to European and intercontinental destinations from its base at

Zurich Airport Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...

History

Early years

The airline was founded on 19 October 1995 in Bassersdorf, Switzerland, with just one aircraft, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83. The company's name is derived from the Swiss unofficial national flower, the Edelweiss, which is also painted on its aircraft. The fleet was subsequently expanded and renewed. In 1998, new Airbus A320-200s 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 and had 190 employees, when the operating rights were sold to Swiss International Air Lines, 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 in 2005, Edelweiss Air also became a subsidiary of

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's largest airline group at the same time it was acquired by Swiss.

Developments since 2010

In March 2011, Edelweiss Air added the larger

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

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 A340-300s 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

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on one of its Airbus A320-200s 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 Airbus A340-300s inherited from parent Swiss. In 2021, Lufthansa moved Edelweiss Air's two

s to Eurowings Discover.aerotelegraph.com
(German) 1 July 2021 On 6 January 2025, Edelweiss Air through a media release announced that the airline will discontinue flights to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

due to declining demand of passengers and the unexpected current conditions at Jose Marti International Airport. The last flight from Zurich to Havana and back to the Swiss city was on 27 February 2025.

Destinations

, Edelweiss Air flies (or has flown) to the following destinations:

Codeshare agreements

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada, by size and passengers carried. Air Canada is headquartered in the borough of Saint-Laurent in the city of Montreal. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled and cha ...

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

* Swiss International Air Lines

Fleet

Current fleet

, Edelweiss Air operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

In the past, 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 1995 establishments in Switzerland Charter airlines