Aircraft exchanges happen sporadically in the aviation sector, commonly due to operational requirements. Nevertheless, a recent aircraft exchange by Edelweiss, a branch of SWISS, has garnered attention because of its atypical characteristics. Usually, Edelweiss runs a triangular route from Zurich to Muscat to Salalah and back to Zurich utilizing an Airbus A340-300. This aircraft is fitted with 300 seats, encompassing 29 business class seats with flat beds and 271 economy seats, all providing seat back entertainment.
Lately, this route has been managed twice by an Airbus A320 instead of the intended A340. The A320 is arranged with 174 seats in a 3-3 configuration, missing seat back entertainment, Wi-Fi, and power ports, which are customary on short-haul flights within Europe. This alteration significantly affected the passenger experience, especially considering the lengthy travel durations: Zurich to Muscat takes about 6 hours and 30 minutes, Muscat to Salalah takes 1 hour and 20 minutes, and Salalah to Zurich, including a refueling stop in Athens, takes about 9 hours and 30 minutes.
The cause for this drastic exchange is an incident involving an Edelweiss Airbus A350-900 in Bogota, where it sustained damage from a baggage cart. This incident led to the grounding of the aircraft, impacting Edelweiss’ long-haul operations. As a result, the airline had to modify its fleet deployment, leading to the A320 servicing the Oman route, which is among the shorter long-haul routes and does not necessitate crossing major bodies of water.
While EC261 regulations do not directly address compensation for such aircraft exchanges, passengers may be eligible for compensation due to the notable disparity between the promised and provided services. This scenario underscores the difficulties airlines encounter when unforeseen incidents affect their fleet availability.