The holiday airline Edelweiss Air plans to phase out the two long-haul Airbus A330-200 jets in the course of 2021. This would mean that only four Airbus A340-300s would be operated in this segment, reports CH-Aviation.com, citing an internal circular.
The Swiss sister company is of the opinion that all long-haul destinations can be approached with the four-jet engines. Taking into account the fact that Swiss stopped operating the A330-200 in 2021, the decision is not surprising. HB-JHR is owned by the sister company, while HB-JHQ is owned by Edelweiss.
A completely different trend can be felt around the world: More and more airlines are declaring that they no longer want to reactivate their four-jet engines. Lufthansa wants to literally go to the collar of the A340-600 fleet and the A380 planes. Edelweiss, on the other hand, wants to use the A340-300 at least temporarily. These are owned by the Leisure Carrier.
However, the company emphasized in the circular that this measure does not indicate that one will permanently focus on a long-haul pattern. Furthermore, it is pointed out that no final decision has yet been made and that this will then be communicated accordingly. Edelweiss did not officially want to comment on the subject and merely pointed out that "all options for reducing fixed costs are being examined".