Global Airlines is just the gift that keeps on giving…
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A Hi Fly Airbus A340 now has Global Airlines branding
For some background, Global Airlines is perhaps the strangest “airline startup” we’ve ever seen. The airline supposedly intends to operate a fleet of Airbus A380s, for reasons that most of us can’t actually make sense of.
This past spring, the company did actually (sort of) operate a grand total of four A380 flights with passengers. I say “sort of” because Global Airlines doesn’t actually have its own air operator certificate, so the flights were really operated by Hi Fly.
Not a whole lot about Global Airlines makes sense, and after the company operated those four flights, the A380 was put into long term storage, awaiting heavy maintenance (which costs many millions of dollars). Yeah, there’s a lot about this company that makes little sense.
Well, the company has now pulled a new trick out of its hat. Global Airlines has taken to social media to share a picture of an Airbus A340, with the caption “9H-SUN off on a mission with it’s beautiful new Global livery!”
Understandably, this is causing quite a bit of speculation. Did Global Airlines acquire an Airbus A340, or what exactly is going on here?
My take on Global Airlines’ A340 publicity stunt
So what’s actually going on here? The plane that now has a Global Airlines decal is an Airbus A340-300 with the registration code 9H-SUN, which belongs to Hi Fly, the well regarded wet lease operator. This is a 25-year-old jet hat has had quite the service history, and currently, Hi Fly leases it out to other airlines, based on their operational needs.
Funny enough, it’s not like the plane was painted in a full Global Airlines livery. I mean, Global Airlines never even painted its intended livery on its own A380, so that’s not too surprising. Instead, it seems that a “GLOBAL” decal was simply placed along the fuselage, as the livery is otherwise the same as before.
This aircraft has been all over the place — for example, it just flew to Antarctica, and now it’s operating Surinam Airways’ flight between Paramaribo (PBM) and Amsterdam (AMS), as the carrier’s wide body jet is out of service.
What does Global Airlines have to do with any of this? Well, since the company doesn’t actually like sharing many real details, all we can do is speculate (it’s funny how the CEO hates when people speculate and share misinformation, but also only drops hints that cause speculation, rather than sharing actual information).
At a minimum, Global Airlines paid/begged Hi Fly to place its decal on this one plane, in order to maintain some credibility or relevance. At least that’s the only logical guess we can come up with, since it doesn’t seem like there was actually any sort of change of ownership of the plane, or any indication that Global Airlines is acquiring the plane.
I’m not sure what value Global Airlines can otherwise add here? Hi Fly is the expert in wet lease operations, so what is Global Airlines supposed to add to this arrangement? After all, Global Airlines hired Hi Fly when it wanted to operate flights!
So yeah, my best guess here is that this is just some small arrangement to get people talking, because we don’t have any other information. And I guess it’s working, because… well, here I am talking about it.
Bottom line
Global Airlines somehow got its name onto a Hi Fly Airbus A340. That’s all we know, since the airline isn’t actually sharing anything further, and that’s probably for good reason. This plane continues to be operated by the reputable wet lease operator, and it’s anyone’s guess what Global has to do with this. My guess is that there’s not actually anything of substance here, but I guess we’ll see…
What do you make of this Global Airlines Airbus A340 situation?
Gotta love a headline with 'Lol' it it. *chef's kiss*
Mahan Air...