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Edelweiss to Mark 30 Years with Fleet Upgrade

DALLAS — Swiss leisure airline Edelweiss (WK) will celebrate its 30th anniversary of operations in 2025. 

The airline began with just two McDonnell Douglas MD-83 aircraft and has grown to operate a modern fleet of five Airbus A340s and 14 Airbus A320s. Three decades later, WK is investing in its future by acquiring six state-of-the-art Airbus A350 aircraft. 

The first A350 will take to the skies on April 1, 2025, initially serving Tenerife. During its first three months, the aircraft will be deployed on short and medium-haul routes to facilitate crew training before transitioning to long-haul services. 

Las Vegas is WK’s first holiday destination this year. When its second A350 enters service in early July 2025, the airline plans to launch daily flights between Zurich and Vancouver.

The fleet expansion drives significant job creation, with WK offering over 350 new positions. This includes more than 300 cabin crew and 40 cockpit crew training opportunities, providing a pathway for qualified candidates to join the airline.

Edelweiss is also broadening its route network in 2025, adding several new destinations. Long-haul additions include Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Seattle, while new short and medium-haul routes will connect passengers to Bristol, Calvi (Corsica), Tbilisi, Terceira (Azores), and Zadar (Croatia).

The new A350s and announced network expansion reinforces WK’s position as Switzerland's leading leisure airline 30 years on.

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Exploring Airline History Volume I

David H. Stringer, the History Editor for AIRWAYS Magazine, has chronicled the story of the commercial aviation industry with his airline history articles that have appeared in AIRWAYS over two decades. Here, for the first time, is a compilation of those articles.

Subjects A through C are presented in this first of three volumes. Covering topics such as the airlines of Alaska at the time of statehood and Canada's regional airlines of the 1960s, the individual histories of such carriers as Allegheny, American, Braniff, and Continental are also included in Volume One. Get your copy today!