Summary
- Global Airlines’ latest announcement has indicated that it has pushed back the start of its commercial passenger flights to 2025.
- As of February 2024, it still planned to launch its first flights in the coming months.
- While Global Airlines said that it has signed agreements for four Airbus A380s, it has not published its financial documents for 2023.
Global Airlines is delaying the launch of its commercial operations to 2025, with its first Airbus A380, which was ferried to Glasgow Prestwick Airport (PIK) for maintenance and interior refitment, still undergoing these processes at the Scottish airport.
Pushed back to 2025
When the airline announced the acquisition of its first Airbus A380 aircraft from the aircraft asset management company Dorrick Aviation in May 2023, the United Kingdom (UK)-based Global Airlines said that it would launch flights in the spring or summer of 2024.
While the A380 that it ferried to PIK was a different airframe, the airline has continuously reassured that it would begin flights in 2024, the latest announcement, which broke the news about its partnership with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, indicated that it plans to launch passenger flights “next year.”
Photo: Global Airlines
Meanwhile, the airline’s only active Airbus A380, registered as 9H-GLOBL, was still undergoing maintenance and cabin retrofit processes at PIK. Global Airlines said that the next step of the maintenance process should start in the next few weeks, which would take it a step closer to launching operations next year.
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Capital of $127.34
According to ch-aviation data, the airline has two Airbus A380 aircraft that are scheduled for delivery: 9H-GLOBL and 9H-MIP. While the latter has been ferried from Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV) to PIK via Montreal Mirabel International Airport (YMX) on May 1, 9H-MIP has not been active on the radar since December 2023, Flightradar24 records showed.
Still, the arrival of 9H-GLOBL at PIK was a momentous occasion for the airline. Global Airlines said that the ferry flights of its Airbus A380, which had to be done with the aircraft’s gear down, were made possible by fantastic partners, which included Airbus, MHV, PIK, and Hi Fly, the Portuguese aircraft, crew, maintenance, and insurance (ACMI) operator.
Photo: Global Airlines
Its filings on the UK Companies House indicated that as of December 31, 2022, it had a capital of £100 ($127.34). The two subsequent filings, posted on January 11, 2024, and June 4, 2024, announced Thomas Guy Stokley, a former executive of an adult content website, and Prashant Kishore Mirchandani Uttamchandani as directors of the company.
Holiday Swapping Limited owns more than 75% of the shares of Global Airlines, according to the UK Companies House data. However, the latter company’s latest financial statements for 2022 indicated that it had £476,193 ($606,067) of cash and £15.7 million ($19.9 million) owed by debtors, totaling £16.1 million ($20.4 million) total current assets.
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Purchasing four aircraft
Nevertheless, when Global Airlines announced that it had officially acquired 9H-GLOBL, which has the manufacturer serial number (MSN) 120, it had agreements to purchase four aircraft, including MSN 120.
Photo: Global Airlines
Those agreements were announced in June 2023, with the carrier detailing that the quartet had been purchased for an “undisclosed figure.” At the time, Global Airlines promised that it would share more information about the aircraft within months.
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