Edelweiss Air

Updated: October 2026 – Morning in Zurich, shortly after operations begin: one A320 after another taxis toward the runway, the same alpine flower on the tail every time. A little later a long-haul jet follows, bound for Africa or North America. That is Edelweiss Air, Switzerland’s leisure airline. For spotters the airline is especially interesting right now, because an era is ending on long-haul: the four-engine A340 is leaving the fleet and the A350 is taking over. This page puts Edelweiss in context for you – from its history through codes and identifying features to the fleet and the best opportunities in Zurich.

Edelweiss at a glance

Edelweiss is a pure leisure airline. Instead of connecting traffic through a hub, the airline offers direct flights from Zurich to vacation regions – on short and medium-haul routes to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands or Scandinavia, for example, and on long-haul to Africa, North and Central America and the Indian Ocean. By its own account, Edelweiss connects Switzerland with more than 100 vacation destinations. Its headquarters is in Kloten, its home base Zurich Airport.

The story begins on October 19, 1995. The airline was founded with the participation of the tour operator Kuoni, and its first CEO was Niklaus Grob. On February 10, 1996, the first commercial flight took off from Zurich via Paphos to Larnaca in Cyprus. At the time it was flown with two McDonnell Douglas MD-83s. Cyprus is still a fixed part of the route network today – a nice piece of continuity at an airline that has otherwise changed a lot.

In 2000, two important steps followed: in February the first Airbus A320 arrived, and in November the first long-haul route started with an A330-200. In February 2008, SWISS announced the takeover, and it took effect on November 1, 2008. Edelweiss kept its own management, fleet, crews and brand, but has been a sister of SWISS ever since and is part of the Lufthansa Group.

Within the group, Edelweiss has a clear role: it is the leisure airline for the Swiss market, just like Discover Airlines in Germany. The two airlines even share a piece of fleet history: when Edelweiss gave up its A330-300s in 2021, fleet material went to the German sister company, which was then still operating as Eurowings Discover.

Codes and callsign: WK, EDW and “EDELWEISS”

At Edelweiss, the codes are much catchier than at its parent SWISS. Still, an overview is worthwhile, because trackers, departures boards and radio each show a different code.

• IATA code WK: appears in the flight number, so on the ticket, boarding pass and departures board.
• ICAO code EDW: appears in the flight plan filed with air traffic control and on flight trackers.
• Callsign EDELWEISS: this is how the crew checks in on the radio, followed by the flight number.

The ICAO code is easy to remember, because EDW is clearly derived from “Edelweiss.” How IATA and ICAO codes work in general and why there are two systems is explained in the guide to IATA and ICAO codes. For searching on the tracker, the article on flight tracking with ADS-B will help.

A special case is codeshares: many Edelweiss flights are also sold under flight numbers of partners such as SWISS. On the departures board, two numbers can then appear for the same flight. The aircraft still comes from Edelweiss, and on the tracker the flight runs under EDW.

How to recognize Edelweiss in the sky

The most important identifying feature is already in the name: a large edelweiss flower adorns the vertical stabilizer. The alpine flower stands for the airline’s Swiss origin. The livery is red and white, and the fuselage carries the “Edelweiss” titles.

In November 2015, Edelweiss presented a revised look that was then rolled out across the fleet. The flower on the tail was enlarged, and the addition “Switzerland” appeared on the fuselage. If you browse older photos from before 2016, you will spot the change on the tail right away.

Another specialty is the names. Since 2016, Edelweiss has been naming its aircraft after Swiss regions where the edelweiss grows. The first A350-900, registration HB-IHF, is called “Piz Bernina,” and the first A320neo, HB-JDB, was christened “Hoch-Ybrig” in April 2026, a hiking and winter sports area in the canton of Schwyz. For close-ups at the gate, it is therefore worth a look at the nose.

There are special liveries too: the A320 HB-JLT has worn a livery for the aid organization Help Alliance since May 2022 and is called “Madrisa.” Whether it still flies that way when you visit is best checked on the tracker beforehand. Tips on how to find such splashes of color are in the guide to special liveries.

The fleet at a glance

Edelweiss flies only Airbus jets. According to an overview on Wikipedia (as of June 2026), the fleet looked like this:

Type	Use	Number
Airbus A320-200	Short and medium-haul	15
Airbus A320neo	Short and medium-haul	1 (5 more planned)
Airbus A340-300	Long-haul	3
Airbus A350-900	Long-haul	4 (2 more planned)

The numbers are a snapshot. Especially on long-haul, a lot is moving: by fall 2026, the A350 fleet had grown further, and reports from September 2026 speak of six A350s. For your planning, the table is a rough guide, not an up-to-the-day inventory.

The A350-900 takes over long-haul

The newest long-haul type is the Airbus A350-900. The first aircraft, HB-IHF, landed in Zurich on March 13, 2025, and was christened “Piz Bernina” at the end of March. More aircraft followed over the course of 2025 and 2026.

For passengers, the next change is already set: Edelweiss is refitting the A350 cabin. According to a report from September 2026, the new cabin will first be used from early June 2027 on flights to Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Windhoek and Halifax, and by early October 2027 the rest of the six A350s in total will follow. From the outside, little changes – for your photo, the A350 stays the same.

The A350 occasionally shows up on shorter routes too, for example when more seats are needed on a heavily booked vacation route. In spring 2026 it flew to Pristina on several days, and in fall 2026 to Heraklion on Saturdays. Such deployments are a stroke of luck for spotters at airports where only the airline’s narrowbody jets otherwise land.

Farewell to the A340

The four-engine A340-300 came to Edelweiss from 2016, and the aircraft come from its parent SWISS. For years it was the backbone of long-haul. Now its time is running out: according to a report from September 22, 2026, three A340s were still in the fleet at that point – HB-JMC, HB-JMD and HB-JME. As the last flying days, the report names January 12, 2027 for HB-JME and January 17, 2027 for HB-JMC and HB-JMD.

HB-JMC returned from a major maintenance check in Hong Kong once more in September 2026, but has already been sold and will be dismantled after retirement. In fall 2026, Edelweiss also deployed the A340 on vacation routes within Europe, for example on individual days to Tenerife, Gran Canaria or Rhodes. If you still want to photograph an A340 in scheduled service, you therefore have only a few weeks left.

Short and medium-haul: A320 and A320neo

On routes within Europe and around the Mediterranean, Edelweiss flies the Airbus A320. With 15 aircraft, it is the most common type in the fleet. Since 2026, the A320neo has been joining; Edelweiss christened the first, HB-JDB, in Zurich in April 2026. More A320neos are arriving step by step from within the group.

Whether a classic A320 or a neo is standing in front of you, you can tell mainly by the engines: the neo has much larger nacelles that sit closer to the wing. The neo models also carry sharklets at the wingtips – though some younger A320ceos have them too, so the engine is the more reliable feature. You will find more help with telling them apart in the guide Identifying aircraft types for beginners.

Earlier types

Right at the start, Edelweiss flew the MD-83, from 1996 to 1999. After that came the A330-200 (2000 to 2016) and the A330-300 (2011 to 2021). You only see these types in Edelweiss colors in old photos now – or in your own archive, if you were there early.

Edelweiss and SWISS: who flies for whom?

Because Edelweiss and SWISS belong to the same group, they help each other out with aircraft. According to SWISS’s company profile, as of March 2026 one Edelweiss A320 was in service on behalf of SWISS. The aircraft then flies with an Edelweiss crew, mostly in Edelweiss colors, but under an LX flight number. How such arrangements work is explained in the guide to wet leasing.

For you as a spotter, this is a small trap: when an Edelweiss A320 operates a SWISS flight, the flight number is LX but the aircraft belongs to Edelweiss. And conversely, the HB- registration alone does not reveal which airline is flying, because SWISS, Helvetic Airways and Chair Airlines also fly with Swiss registrations.

Spotting tips for Edelweiss

Zurich is the only place where you can reliably see Edelweiss. Almost the entire fleet takes off and lands here. Typical for a leisure airline is the daily rhythm: in the morning many aircraft depart toward the south, and in the afternoon and evening they return. The long-haul flights have their own times. A look at the departures and arrivals board beforehand shows you when waiting is worthwhile.

As locations, Observation Deck B at Zurich Airport and the Butzenbüel are good options. On the deck you see the aircraft at the dock and while taxiing, at the Butzenbüel more on approach or takeoff – depending on the runway direction in use. Which runways are in use at a given time depends on the wind and operating hours; how to estimate that is explained in the guide Understanding the runway direction in use at an airport.

New at the airport, by the way, is the Edelweiss Hub in the Circle: a public experience area run by the airline with travel inspiration, VR offerings, a café and a shop. It is not intended for spotting, but it is an idea as a detour in bad weather.

In Germany you will hardly come across Edelweiss, because the airline flies from Zurich to vacation regions. If you yourself are standing at a vacation airport on the Mediterranean or in the Canary Islands during your holidays, on the other hand, you have good chances of the edelweiss flower among the aircraft of Condor, TUIfly and Discover.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Edelweiss for SWISS – Edelweiss is a separate airline with its own codes (WK/EDW), but belongs to the Lufthansa Group through SWISS.
• Logging Edelweiss as a Star Alliance member – its parent SWISS is a member, Edelweiss itself is not.
• Counting every WK sighting as an Edelweiss flight and every LX sighting as SWISS – on deployments on behalf of another airline, the flight number differs from the actual operator.
• Treating HB- as proof of Edelweiss – the prefix only shows the Swiss registration. SWISS, Helvetic, Chair and many other operators also fly with HB- registrations.
• Confusing the A350 and the A340 – the A340 has four engines, the A350 two large ones. The A350 also has the distinctive cockpit window outline that resembles a mask.
• Equating the A320 and the A320neo – look for the neo’s much larger engines.

Conclusion

Edelweiss is a rewarding airline for plane spotters: you recognize the flower on the tail immediately, the codes WK and EDW are easy to remember, and Zurich bundles practically the entire fleet in one place. If you also note the HB- registration, you cleanly separate Edelweiss from SWISS – even on flights operated on behalf of another airline.

A visit to Zurich is especially worthwhile right now: until mid-January 2027, the last weeks of the A340 in Edelweiss colors are running, while the A350 takes over long-haul and the A320neo gains a foothold on short-haul.