Swiss leisure carrier Edelweiss Air made history on April 1 when it became the first airline in the country to operate the Airbus A350, pipping to the post Switzerland’s own flag carrier in the process. Thomas Haynes was onboard for the historic occasion

A stunning aerial photograph depicting Edelweiss Air’s inaugural Airbus A350-941, HB-IHF (c/n 363) over the Alps on its delivery flight to Zurich on March 4 this year

EDELWEISS AIR/VBS DDPS/ DONAT ACHERMANN

Zurich-based Edelweiss Air is perhaps best known among aviation enthusiasts for flying the increasingly rare Airbus A340. However, the introduction of new A350s marks the beginning of the end for the quadjet as Edelweiss moves to retire the type in favour of the more efficient next generation widebody.

While SWISS has selected factory fresh airframes, Edelweiss’ route to acquire its A350s was more complicated. Faced with significant wait times for new build aircraft, it instead opted to acquire second-hand ‘nearly new’ examples. Its maiden A350-941, HB-IHF (c/n 363) Piz Bernina, was formerly used by LATAM Airlines Brasil between December 2019 and June 2021, after which it was withdrawn from use and stored at Victorville in Southern California. According to Edelweiss, before coming into its care, the jet had racked up only 200 flight cycles totalling around 400 hours of flying – very low numbers indeed. The carrier is due to receive six A350s in total – four of which are ex-LATAM machines, while the remaining two were originally order by the Brazilian carrier but were later cancelled and most recently have been flying with Thai Airways.

Hotel Foxtrot was handed over to Edelweiss on March 4 and was ferried from Tarbes/Lourdes on March 13, arriving in Zurich to much fanfare. The jet underwent various maintenance work following its arrival and right on schedule, began operations on April 1 with an inaugural service to Tenerife/ South. Airliner World was privileged to be the only English-language media on board to witness this special occasion.

Cakes and eating it

Approaching gate B38 it was clear from quite a distance away that something special was happening. With more than an hour to go until boarding, a crowd had already gathered, with the main focus being on a cake which had been skilfully created to spell out A350, behind which stood a caricature-esque cake model of the widebody jet.