Air traffic Vacation airline Edelweiss with record sales last year

The vacation airline Edelweiss achieved record sales last year. The Lufthansa subsidiary achieved a total turnover of 830 million Swiss francs.

Edelweiss thus exceeded its previous record of 675 million Swiss francs from 2022 by 23 percent, as the airline announced on Tuesday ahead of a media conference. The number of passengers climbed by a quarter to 2.74 million.

Edelweiss operated 14 percent more flights than in the previous record year of 2022. In addition, the planes were better utilized. On average, 83 out of 100 seats were occupied. In the previous year, this figure was only 76 percent.

New aircraft for long-haul routes

Edelweiss is now facing a modernization push. The long-haul fleet will receive six Airbus A350s to replace the previous five Airbus A340s. The first Airbus A350 is to be flown by Edelweiss from March 2025.

This means that Edelweiss will receive its first A350 before its sister airline Swiss, which, according to earlier information, will take delivery of its first aircraft in May. However, Edelweiss will receive second-hand aircraft from the airline Latam, while Swiss will receive brand-new aircraft from Airbus.

When the second Airbus A350 enters service at the beginning of July 2025, the Zurich-Vancouver-Zurich route will be served daily. The third Airbus A350 will join the Edelweiss fleet at the beginning of October 2025. The fourth will be added in winter 2025 and aircraft numbers 5 and 6 in the second half of 2026.

Significantly lower fuel consumption

This is reflected in the fuel bill. This is because the new A350 consumes a quarter less fuel than the old A340.

This means that the existing five Airbus A340 long-haul aircraft will be replaced by mid-2027 and Edelweiss' long-haul fleet will return to its pre-coronavirus level of six aircraft.

SDA