Swiss confederates on the road to success

The Lufthansa Group is a global aviation group that plays a leading role in its home market of Europe. Its core brand is Lufthansa, but it also includes numerous other well-known airlines such as Austrian Airlines and Swiss. The Group is headquartered in Frankfurt/Main, but Group management was clever enough to maintain the national independence and largely autonomous management of each affiliated airline. Only certain key functions, such as fleet policy and a few fundamental principles, are dictated by Frankfurt.

Edelweiss Air has been part of the Lufthansa Group since November 1, 2008. Switzerland's leading leisure airline has been an affiliate of Swiss since 2008, which as Switzerland's national airline has in turn been part of the Lufthansa Group since 2007. Edelweiss Air is based at Kloten Airport in Zurich, where the airline was founded in October 1995 by the Swiss travel group Kuoni (33%), Greece’s Venus Air (40%), and private investors. The initial aircraft were two leased McDonnell Douglas MD-83s, which were used for the first flights to Greece in February 1996. However, the Greek partners withdrew as shareholders during the initial phase and sold their shares to Kuoni.

Flight operations began in 1986 with initially two, and from 1987, three McDonnell Douglas MD-83s. The airline immediately found its market, which was in part due to the aircraft themselves, as the elegant twinjets had a long tradition in Switzerland. Photo: AeroIcarus_CC

On course for success with a strong profile

The MD-83s, or DC-9-83s to be precise, were definitely popular - with passengers because of their unsurpassed quiet operation and with pilots because of the long tradition of DC-9s in Switzerland, which had begun in 1965. However, flight operations management and above all the “carpet floor” around company boss Niklaus Grob were less enthusiastic. This was because the JT-8D engines from Pratt & Whitney were loud on the outside and thirsty, and therefore expensive. As early as 1999, the decision was made to replace the MD-83s with Airbus A320s, which were more modern in every respect.

The first A320-200 arrived in Zurich in January 1999 and was christened “Calvaro” with the registration HB-IHX. Calvaro was a Holstein gray gelding who, with his Swiss rider Willi Melliger, became the world's number 1 in 2000. The initial three A320s were followed by a further eleven by January 2024, mostly from Swiss stock. With 174 economy seats, the A320s are comparatively spacious. On the other hand, they are relatively old at just under 18 years on average. Nevertheless, Edelweiss has not yet decided on a successor for them.

Larger radius

The airline did not want to leave it at simply serving Central European vacation destinations, but was aiming for something more, i.e. long-haul traffic. In the fall of 2000, a single A330-200 from the Swiss fleet was added to the fleet, with which the first flight from Zurich to the Maldives was captained by Karl Kistler, then head of the fleet and later head of the company.

Edelweiss Air launched its long-haul service with Airbus A330-200s in the fall of 2000, initially from Zurich to Male in the Maldives. Photo: Timo Breidenstein

Here, too, success was quickly achieved, so that in 2011 and 2016 another of the slightly larger A330-300s was put into service to replace the -200. By this time, however, the airline's operating conditions had already changed dramatically. The decisive year was 2008, when Swiss International Airlines, which had already been taken over by Lufthansa, acquired a majority stake in Edelweiss Air.
On February 12 of the same year, a new strategic partnership between Kuoni and Swiss led to the decision to merge the two companies. With the blessing from Frankfurt, it was agreed that both airlines should operate with their own profile, personnel and, mind you, their own fleet. To ensure this, Edelweiss became a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group and thus an affiliate and not a subsidiary of Swiss. However, Swiss and Edelweiss worked closely together from then on, as befits sisters.

The 14th and for the time being last A320 is this variant registered under the registration HB-JLT in a special “Help Alliance” livery. Taken over by Swiss in June 2022 and christened “Madrisa”, it is the only slightly modernized A320-200ceo with new Sharklets. It is available as a Herpa model in the 1:500 scale (537650) and in the SnapFit series in 1:200 scale (item no. 613712). Photo:Remo Schmittler_CC

Meeting the high Swiss standard

This also had an impact on fleet policy. While the A320-200 fleet grew from the original three to an impressive 14 aircraft, astonishing things happened in the wide-body and long-haul jet sector: the two A330-300s being sold to the German affiliate Eurowings Discover in 2021, while five four-engine A340-300s from Swiss stocks became successor models, completely against the trend. The Frankfurt Group management probably had a major say in this decision, as apart from Swiss and Edelweiss, only Lufthansa itself still operates the A340-300 in Europe. The higher operating costs compared to the A330 are more than offset by lower financing costs and greater operational flexibility. However, as the aircraft ages, this advantage is increasingly evaporating. This is why Edelweiss will also be opting for the far more efficient, twin-engine A350-900 in future. Six aircraft from the South American LATAM fleet are to replace the A340 from April 2025. The first long-haul destination with the A350 will be Las Vegas. The second aircraft of this type will then serve the Zurich to Vancouver route daily from the beginning of July 2025.

Five Airbus A340-300s from the Swiss fleet replaced the previous A330s from 2008. This was unusual, but gave Edelweiss greater operational flexibility. Photo: Timo Breidenstein

Excellence - the Lufthansa subsidiary Discover still has to acquire this reputation with a number of restructuring measures made necessary by a rather bumpy start in 2021, its sister Edelweiss having long since achieved this status - namely “ex initio”with an excellent image as a quality leisure airline. It is continuing to refine this image, for example by introducing a premium economy class on long-haul flights with greater seat pitch and improved in-flight service. It is thus very similar to its affiliate Swiss, both of which are the cream of the crop in the context of their respective roles within the Group. In memory of the legendary Swissair, many Swiss would probably proudly add: “just as it should be”.

To mark the company's 20th anniversary, Edelweiss treated itself to a few days of a chartered Zeppelin NT in 2015 for sightseeing flights over Switzerland. Models in the 1:500 and 1:200 scales were available for Wings collectors. Photo: Adrian Michael_CC

Photo: Timo Breidenstein