New British long-haul airline

Following TNU’s exclusive in July’s newsletter, Global Airlines held a press conference in London. 

The big news was that the embryo airline has acquired a further three Airbus A380s at a nominal price, although it would include a full technical history of each plane, and some sort of spares package.  There was no announcement regarding accreditation by the CAA, nor a firm startup date.

Purchased from Singapore Airlines the aircraft feature 471 seats with 12 in First, 60 Business Class and the remaining 399 in Economy.  Global says it wants to offer a premium experience.

The plan is to fly London – New York in spring 2024 but no UK airport was announced, although Gatwick was discussed and Newark appeared to be the front runner at the other end.

The management setup includes CEO James Asquith, founder of website Holiday Swap, COO, Richard Stephenson, who started his career at British Airways in 1998 and more recently spent six years as Communications Director of the Civil Aviation Authority.  Also joining Global is Liam McKay. Liam comes from London City Airport where he was Director of Corporate Affairs, dealing with PR, marketing and regulation.Launching a brand-new UK airline does not come easy as Hans Airways has found out.  www.travelnewsupdate.co.uk/article/142

Where is the money coming from? At least some of it is originating from the Holiday Swap Group and other investors, including Sheikh Juma bin Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of the Dubai ruling family.Clearly the A380 works for some airlines: Emirates continues to use it as the backbone of its fleet, delivering huge levels of capacity to and from slot-constrained airports.  Things are different in the transatlantic market, no US airline ever operating the A380.  In Europe, Air France withdrew its fleet at the start of the pandemic leaving as operators only British Airways and Lufthansa.

Starting up a new airline from scratch is a very complex business.  A new team of experienced flight, engineering and management individuals will need to be expensively recruited.www.globalairlines.com

www.holidayswap.com

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