In response to evolving industry trends and the aging of its fleet, Edelweiss Air has begun retiring its Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The Swiss leisure airline recently sent the first of its five A340s, registered as HB-JMG, to Teruel Airport in Spain for long-term storage. Teruel Airport is known for storing and maintaining aircraft due to its dry climate.
According to data from ch-aviation, the retired A340 was nearly 22 years old. It joined Edelweiss Air in 2016 after serving with SWISS for 13 years. The aircraft's final commercial flights occurred earlier this month on a route between Zürich and Mauritius, with a stopover in Seychelles. Upon returning to Zürich on October 6, Edelweiss Air commented: "With the landing in Zurich, a piece of Edelweiss history comes to an end. It has circumnavigated the globe almost 900 times, covered more than 36 million kilometers, and spent over 43,000 hours in the air."
The A340’s last journey took place on October 13 when it departed Zürich as flight WK5134 and landed at Teruel Airport. AeroTELEGRAPH reported that pilots performed a wing wave upon arrival as a farewell gesture.