Global Airlines is the suspicious UK-based Airbus A380 airline startup.” Well, the airline has just announced that it has acquired its first Airbus A380, not to be confused with the other first Airbus A380 it acquired last year…
Continue reading: Global Airlines Acquires China Southern Airbus A380
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It boggles the mind that there are people/VCs willing to invest in this. FOMO is real.
I'm just curious to know who goes to prison first, and how quickly it happens.
The chances of this airline launching flights by, say June 1st this year are slim to none at this stage.
Even if they choose to keep the same interiors in order to get the plane into service, I mean, on such a competitive aviation route with other airlines offering their best products, who wouldn't want to choose a clapped out old China Southern aircraft for their journey?
I'm sure there might be a few warm bottles of Duc De Paris left in the bar carts for their first PDB service...
Too bad it's not stateside; otherwise him and Elizabeth Holmes could split a cell. 😉
Ben, your “coverage” of Global seems to be very biased and misleading to your readers. I hope they see this as an opinion article rather than factual. But, mob mentality is strong for those with closed minds. I feel like Global is doing a great job starting up, and most of what the “haters” say won’t happen is beginning to happen. Why so negative? Most of your readers seem to enjoy participating in the “locker room bully talk” for a quick laugh. I say let’s just see what happens and wish them the best!
Beside that, I read “acquiring” and “taking full ownership” as two different things. I believe the other plane is also still in the works.. but that just may be my open mind thinking a little more past my ego. Cheers!
Obviously Ben is just jealous that while he predicted them going bankrupt, Global Airlines have already two first A380 and many more first A380s to come!
@ Happy Man -- I'm curious, what do you think Global Airlines is doing a good job with? Selecting a champagne supplier for economy?
When eight months ago the airline announced that it had completed "the acquisition of its first A380 aircraft from Doric Aviation," how would you interpret that, if not "taking full ownership" of?
In case you're wondering why I'm skeptical, let me explain. I'm not saying Global Airlines is a scam, but you understand that there have been several airlines startups that have been scams intended to defraud investors, right? Just look at Baltia.
If there were anything about this airline that seemed realistic, I'd love to support it. But from the beginning, the airline just hasn't been very serious. I mean, in early 2023 the airline was claiming it would launch in the same year. That's simply not the timeline with which an airline can launch operations. Don't you think the experienced people behind the airline would know that? How would you make sense of the kind of communication they've had?
I guess one day this will rank up there with SBF and Bernie Madoff. The operating efficiency of an A380 is horrible and why ultimately it was a total dud compared to other a/c types. It works on relatively few number of long haul flights but flying an A380 even with Spirit style seating from New York to Orlando likely would been a total cash burner.
Great job would be:
"obtaining their AOC;
Giving a timeline for aircraft refurb:
Giving an update as to slots and gates at the airports they plan to serve (there is only 1 A380 gate at LGW and it's occupied most of the day by the triple daily Emirates A380 service as an example):
Announce routes, fares, frequencies etc"
They said they would launch for summer 2024, so, say June 1 at the latest.
There's an awful lot to do in just 4 months if they plan to meet that goal.
If they miss summer 2024 I'm sure Norse Atlantic can attest to how difficult it is to sell tickets over winter.
Hardly any staff/ crew How do they pay for fuel salaries etc? They have no AOC but selected the champagne. No product just a mish mash of different interiors and run by someone who is a complete a hole
I find this whole thing interesting. Clearly there’s some money being thrown around here for some reason. I’d love to understand who is bankrolling it and why. I wouldn’t write it off. Airlines in general are awful businesses so it’s quite easy to predict the demise of this. What’s the upside case? It’s always interesting when someone who thinks different enters a space. I hope they get somewhere and spur some innovation.
Snarky Ben seems to be playing this story strictly for laughs, despite his protestations. That worked, for a time. But Global Airlines now has an a380. Still not much of airline, but ahead of those perennial jokes known as Global Ghana and Baltia. After all, what airline buys an a380 just for laughs?? I doubt this venture - if it is actually legit - will be a success, much less even come to launching flights...but it is fascinating and I'd rather know what the (potentially scammy?) backstory is, instead of being served up a rehash of tired old sarcastic jokes and snarky asides from Ben.
None of us have started an airline, but I think we all understand how hard it is to do so. The AOC and a slot times I’m sure are the hardest to accomplish, so it makes sense things like champagne for customers and credit card partnerships are coming out first.. I actually praise the team for trying to do that AND think of all the little things. I would assume they are announcing things as they are completed to create excitement with the public. I doubt most of the high profile people being added to the board would put their reputations on the line for something that us blog writers and readers try to make jokes about…
As far as your misleading post, why even show images of the old cabins from a DIFFERENT airline, seemingly making Global look like that’s what their interiors are? It has already been established that they are going to refit the interior with a partner, which has been announced. But you probably shrugged that off.
To me it just seems like you don’t like James and are hoping he fails so you can get clicks and your potential “I told you so” post. Just all seems very biased from my point of view, but that’s what journalism has become these days. So can’t blame you entirely. Just my two cents.
Even if this doesn’t succeed, you’re delusional to even think it would rank up there with SBF and Bernie Madoff.,,, really?
@Lucky. I clicked on that link regarding why “business class seats are no longer certified to fly”, but I do not see an actual explanation. What am I missing? Thank you
Is 'Happy Man' really James Asquith?
Ben can you please get in touch with HBO, Netflix or Peacock to do a doco on one of these realistic and totally plausible 'startups' please? It would be fascinating viewing. Maybe that man who was angry at you regarding the start up of flights into ORD can be one of the talking heads?
Lucky, the sticky, unresponsive ads are really becoming a nuisance lately. It’s hard to read your content when janky video ads crash the page and can’t be closed by clicking the “x.”
If this article were dripping in even more sarcasm than it already is, I'd be totally drenched! Justifiably so, mind you 🙂
In fairness to @Happy Man, 'acquisition' could cover the completion of a lease agreement. Just because I acquire a product does not necessarily mean that I own it.
@Happy man - I've actually started 3 airlines so I think I am somewhat qualified to comment.
Global's PR statements are delusional. By every account, so is the fundraising, technical planning, recruitment and most everything else.
That's not to say they won't eventually be succesful. However, they definitively won't be succesful if they continue down the path they are on right now.
I don't comment about Global usually because I don't believe in giving oxygen to this kind of nonsense, but I'll make a brief exception here.
There is no goal to serve the market, the goal is to get more money from the investors.
@ Daniel B -- Try clicking this link and then scrolling up:
https://twitter.com/thatjohn/status/1663460063862833155
Does that work?
@ John -- Are you aware that Baltia also had a 747, which the airline bought secondhand? So if the definition of semi-legitimacy is acquiring an aircraft, then we have really low standards. And I am giving you the story here, I'm telling you the carrier's latest announcements. In this case, that the airline acquired a China Southern A380, along with all the details of the cabin. Is that not news?
@ simmonad -- For what it's worth, the airline had announced at the time that it purchased it outright, rather than leasing it:
"The purchase of our first aircraft demonstrates that we are well on the way to launching Global. The next step is to overhaul and refit the aircraft to our high specification, providing our customers with the best experience in the sky today. Acquiring our aircraft rather than leasing showcases our commitment to financial security and resilience from day one."
This is the only thing which comes up after clicking the link and there is no possibility to scroll up:
“As it turned out, COVID happened and Hi Fly announced the phaseout of their A380 in March 2020 so never had to answer the question of "what seats are you going to design, test, and install to replace the Koito business class".
That question is critical for #GloBaltia.“
Maybe the fact that I am not on X can explain that I cannot scroll up?
Same practice. Duping people too dumb to know what they've got is too good to be true even when "others in the know" know it's a total scam.
Did they really write "testemant"?
I assume you did copy and paste, so it seems unlikely you would have introduced the spelling errors (although there is possibly a third-party - a mis-programmed spell-checker!)
Having done my own search to confirm, I'd suggest you add "[sic]" or make an editor's note regarding the first set of pull quotes to make clear that it was the original text offering "testement" to Airbus's "enginerring excellence," and that the typos weren't introduced by you.