Edelweiss A350: To Be Delivered Soon
Intro
I have always been excited when airlines introduce a state-of-the-art aircraft to their fleet as it shows that the certain airline is looking to improve. Well, Swiss Carrier, Edelweiss will soon be taking delivery of their brand-new A350-900 as early as next week, and let's just say, it looks marvelous!
The Details
Edelweiss, the Swiss Carrier, currently operates a fleet of 5 Airbus A340s and 14 A320s. With the A340s being relatively dated, the airline has decided it is time for a refresh, and so they placed an order for the A350-900. The first Edelweiss A350, registered as HB-IHF, is set to be delivered next week from Lourdes airport to Switzerland with the flight number WK5159.
While Edelweiss currently serves a number of long-haul destinations such as Las Vegas, Vancouver, Male, Phuket, Colombo, and Cape Town to name a few, this A350-900 will first be put on intra-European flights for crew familiarization.
Following the next few months, we should expect to see the A350 take over the Las Vegas route sometime in May. As of now, the first flight to Las Vegas is scheduled to depart Zurich on May 15th at 2:05 pm, landing in Las Vegas at 4:35 pm.
What To Expect Onboard
Taking a look online at the Edelweiss seat map, it seems that the airline has chosen to go with quantity on this aircraft. The A350-900 will be laid out with two cabins consisting of 30 business class seats in a 2-2-2 configuration, and 309 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration.
Rumour has it that Edelweiss has selected a similar seat to what LATAM offers on certain aircraft (not to be confused with their newer product), with fully lie-flat seats. While uncompetitive, it makes sense as most of the routes that Edelweiss flies are mainly leisure routes.
Final Thoughts
Edelweiss will soon be taking delivery of their next-generation long-haul aircraft: the A350-900. With the A340s dated and on the way out, I am excited to see what Edelweiss will offer onboard these new Airbus jets. The business class looks perfectly acceptable for a leisure carrier, but I am curious as to why they didn't add a premium economy.
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