Edelweiss Air’s new twice-weekly flights between Cape Town and Zürich have been well received, with the Mother City ranking second after Phuket amongst the carrier’s most popular destinations this European winter.

This is the word from Michael Trestl, Edelweiss Air’s Business Development Manager. He says load factor on the route are 60% so far, attracting traffic from Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy. The southbound daylight leg to Cape Town for a faster turnaround has been “controversial”. “Some love it, others don’t,” Trestl says. “Our 2012/13 winter schedule is not published yet. We will carefully look at the Cape Town route and reflect on its performance and a final decision whether or not it will be included in our next winter schedule will be made in early 2012,” he says.

Edelweiss Air is the oldest airline of Switzerland and the country’ leading leisure travel carrier.  It was founded in 1995 by the tour operator Kuoni and operated as a charter carrier until 2008, when it became a 100% subsidiary of the
Lufthansa Group and an affiliate of Swiss International Air Lines.

Its business model changed from a charter carrier to a scheduled airline, operating code shares with Swiss. It serves mostly leisure destinations that complement Swiss’ business destinations, for example Johannesburg (Swiss) and Cape Town (Edelweiss). “This setup gives us a lot of opportunity for cooperation with SWISS, including 45 connecting opportunities with Swiss in Zürich to destinations in Europe and the Middle East,” Michael explains. “In general, the minimum connecting time in Zürich with Swiss is 45 minutes, so it’s very convenient.”

He says 60% of Edelweiss Air’s seats are sold as part of tour packages.  However leisure doesn’t mean shabby. The carrier maintains the high quality and service standards synonymous with Switzerland. “We are competitively priced with Swiss, except for our business class, which generally is more reasonably priced.” However unlike Swiss, Edelweiss Air’s business class doesn’t have lie-flat seats, although in time the product will be further developed, Trestl says.