Global Airlines is currently operating its first Airbus A380 flight. Well, sort of. Let’s go over the details, give the airline some credit, and then discuss what’s next.
In this post:
Global Airlines A380 flies from Glasgow to New York
I’ve written extensively about airline startup Global Airlines, which is in possession of an ex-China Southern A380, with mostly original interiors (seats have been reupholstered, and it looks like they bought little lamps for premium seats).
Several weeks ago, I wrote about how the airline put its first flights on sale, in a rather unusual way. The airline isn’t launching regularly scheduled flights, but is essentially selling seats on two roundtrip charter flights:
- For May 15-19, the airline is operating a roundtrip Glasgow (GLA) to New York (JFK) journey
- For May 21-25, the airline is operating a roundtrip Manchester (MAN) to New York (JFK) journey
I’m not sure what exactly the point of these trips is, or how it gets the airline closer to launching regularly scheduled operations. But the 12-year-old A380 with the registration code 9H-GLOBL is currently enroute to New York, so the airline seems to be moving forward with these plans.
Let me start by apologizing for not being on the inaugural flight. I was so close to booking the inaugural flight, but it didn’t quite work out. I guess there’s always the Manchester trip for next week. In all honesty, I’m kind of happy I didn’t book this flight, since it seems like every aviation influencer is on there.
There’s nothing wrong with that (or them), but my point is simply that this doesn’t actually give you any impression of what the service would be like, as I imagine it’s just one big party. Like, of course the airline is even offering caviar in business class and amenity kits in economy on this flight, because why wouldn’t they?
Global Airlines CEO James Asquith has posted quite a few things on Instagram about this flight.
I think the caption on the picture of the first class seats is interesting:
We are so proud of the onboard product. First class chinaware made in England and caviar in business class, with amenity kits in every cabin.
Lets take a moment to remember that things will never be perfect on day 1, nor the finished product, but for us, we want you all to help us roll out more in the future and help improving the vision of Global.
If you look at any airline in history, their product on day 1 was never their finished product, and goes through many evolutions.
It’s a testament to aviation how big the leap has been the last few years in the onboard hard product. As some people will know, it takes many, many years to design, certify and test and new product, sometimes as long as 7-8 years.
YouTuber Noel Philips seems to be on the flight, and while there’s no inflight Wi-Fi, he posted some pictures from the ground to his Instagram Stories. Based on that, it looks like the plane has no entertainment system (like, they obviously haven’t purchased a package), and his first class seat seems to be falling apart. But aside from that…
Let me give Global Airlines some credit
Let me stop for a moment and give Global Airlines some credit. I wasn’t expecting that Global Airlines would ever operate a flight with passengers, so the airline has now accomplished something that many other questionable airline startups haven’t, which is to actually carry passengers. As you can see in the title, I said the airline “sort of kind of” operated its first A380 flight. I say that for a few reasons:
- Technically, the flight is operated by Portuguese wet lease operator Hi Fly, and not Global Airlines
- Global Airlines actually operated a charter flight a couple of weeks ago, from Barcelona (BCN) to Berlin (BER), so this wasn’t even the first flight
- This is really also just a charter flight, and not actually a regularly scheduled commercial flight
But hey, kudos to the company for getting this far. Actually operating a flight is an accomplishment, and I have no doubt that a lot of work went into this. Admittedly as long as you have the money to spend, there was nothing preventing this from happening, especially since the airline isn’t even doing this under its own air operator certificate.
I don’t understand what’s next, though
While I wasn’t expecting Global Airlines to operate any flight, let me emphasize what my primarily claim has been all along, which is that I don’t think Global Airlines will ever operate regularly schedule flights under its own air operator certificate.
Global Airlines claims it wants to start operating transatlantic flights and bring back the “good old days” of flying, but it doesn’t actually seem like much progress has been made there at all. Acquiring a used A380 isn’t cheap, but it’s a small part of the investment that will need to be made for this operation to be scaled, and to introduce a more competitive onboard product.
For that matter, I just don’t see where the business case is for this carrier. Transatlantic travel is controlled by the “big three” joint ventures, as that’s where all the lucrative traffic is. I haven’t seen any progress made toward these kinds of operations launching, so who knows where things go from here. There’s not really room across the Atlantic for independent operators.
I suppose we could see Global Airlines keep having some charter flights operated by Hi Fly, but there’s no money to be made there. Keep in mind that Hi Fly itself briefly acquired an A380 to charter out to other airlines, and the concept didn’t work out.
One certainly wonders who is bankrolling the current state of things, since all of this can’t be cheap, and I don’t see where the upside is. But I guess with James Hogan now trying to raise money for the airline…
Bottom line
Global Airlines is currently operating an A380 flight from Glasgow to New York, and I’m sort of sad to not be onboard. Congrats to the Global Airlines team for actually operating a flight (well, in partnership with Hi Fly), as I wasn’t expecting that to happen.
Now, will the airline ever actually operate a regularly scheduled, commercial flight, under its own air operator certificate? That I remain skeptical of…
To be honest, I’m just happy to see one more A380 flying in 2025, even if this is all they end up doing before taking the money and running.
I think I can see enough demand for cheap, high-ish density A380 transatlantic flights, but I’ve honestly no idea how they’ll actually expand into any kind of regular, sustainable service.
I’d love it if they did, though. I didn’t know if Beond or Norse...
To be honest, I’m just happy to see one more A380 flying in 2025, even if this is all they end up doing before taking the money and running.
I think I can see enough demand for cheap, high-ish density A380 transatlantic flights, but I’ve honestly no idea how they’ll actually expand into any kind of regular, sustainable service.
I’d love it if they did, though. I didn’t know if Beond or Norse would still be in business this time last year and they’re both still going, so we’ll see.
I just can’t stop thinking how the Global branding and livery really does look like a fake airline for a movie
There are only 95 pax on board. Anyone who wanted an upgrade got it pretty much. Some YouTube people declined to actually sit in coach which the operator apparently wasn't counting on....
@ NedsKid -- Wait, 95, really?! OMG, I know a lot of people are doing throwaway ticketing, so I can only imagine how empty the return flight will be...
Regarding "declined to sit in economy," you mean they booked economy but demanded upgrades, or...?
Sorry, should rephrase. Declined the upgrade to sit in economy as they are doing a video of the product each way and wanted to sit in economy. I mean, I would too with loads like that.
I'm really curious though the funding on this.... using info I have from various sources at JFK on ground handling and common use charges, plus calculating landing/gate/fees (for parking it 3 days)/towing/etc, they're sitting at about $30k just...
Sorry, should rephrase. Declined the upgrade to sit in economy as they are doing a video of the product each way and wanted to sit in economy. I mean, I would too with loads like that.
I'm really curious though the funding on this.... using info I have from various sources at JFK on ground handling and common use charges, plus calculating landing/gate/fees (for parking it 3 days)/towing/etc, they're sitting at about $30k just for the JFK side of the thing in landing/parking/servicing aircraft.
There's an after flight party and such at the TWA Hotel.
@ NedsKid -- Fascinating. Yeah, I really wonder who is funding this. Obviously these two trips are losing a ton of money, and I don't actually understand what they accomplish.
If they had offered one-ways, I bet it would have sold at least a few more.
But under the charter authority they have, they were only authorized to sell round trips originating in the UK.
Ben you missed the fact that Asquith got SSSSingled out. Even the US government doesn't trust him, nobody else should either.
"There’s not really room across the Atlantic for independent operators." I'm skeptical about this airline too, but this is a pretty pessimistic take. I flew La Compagnie pre pandemic, and they seem to survive in this niche.
@ grichard -- La Compagnie has carved out a niche and I'm happy the airline is doing okay. but let's be clear, the carrier's key to success is that it has a low seat count, and it hasn't grown much in the past decade. Operating an A380 (or any plane with hundreds of seats) is a totally different story, especially when we're talking about year-round service.
Sorry that should be Tues, May 20th (not 29) and JFK on Saturday, May 24th.
The flight schedule shows MAN-JFK departing Weds, May 21st and JFK- MAN departing Sunday, May 25th. However, when making a reservation, the dates show MAN-JFK departing, Tues, May 29th and JFK on Saturday, May 24th.
It was the same issue for this flight. Flight schedule shows it departing Thursday, May 15th but search results show it departing yesterday, Weds, May 14th.
Found the error in the coding.
The airline that apparently hasn't product tested it's website.
One can imagine that this arrangement might well be popular with certain American customers, those who are tired of their own domestic airlines and are looking for a better alternative at a cheap price.
I remain interested in the endpoint of this obvious grift.
One more big money raise and then ::poof:: disappear?
What's the over/under on them rolling out a crypto-currency?
I too am mystified by the endpoint.
Surely even if there are no SNAFUs on these 4 flights, the exposure will cause the weaknesses in the business plan to be so obvious that no more money will be raiseable?
I can't see how these flights will gain GA credibility with FAA, CAA, pilots, Sovereign Wealth Funds, owners of La Compagnie, or anyone else relevant.
Rather than disappear, it would seem likely to be...
I too am mystified by the endpoint.
Surely even if there are no SNAFUs on these 4 flights, the exposure will cause the weaknesses in the business plan to be so obvious that no more money will be raiseable?
I can't see how these flights will gain GA credibility with FAA, CAA, pilots, Sovereign Wealth Funds, owners of La Compagnie, or anyone else relevant.
Rather than disappear, it would seem likely to be "Oh, we ran out of money so we will have to liquidate. No, it wouldn't have made any difference if I had not charged the business various fees ..."
Asquith, 36, promises a new era of flying, saying: “People are sick and tired of the service they get on current airlines. We will be better.”
That is also untrue . He is a narcissist . Did he arrive wearing a onesie ?
First and foremost the branding of Global is truly awful.
Simon Calder and Noel Philips were on it which is enough to put anyone off.
Hoping for their first tech...
Asquith, 36, promises a new era of flying, saying: “People are sick and tired of the service they get on current airlines. We will be better.”
That is also untrue . He is a narcissist . Did he arrive wearing a onesie ?
First and foremost the branding of Global is truly awful.
Simon Calder and Noel Philips were on it which is enough to put anyone off.
Hoping for their first tech delay > 4hrs and have to pay everyone GBP520 and lack any ability to reprotect passengers
I hope you can be on their next flight, @Ben!
Give it a miss