Global Airlines’ first fully owned A380 landed at Glasgow Prestwick Airport on 2 May, a significant milestone for the new carrier.
The aircraft will now continue its journey back to commercial operations and Global’s partners will start working on the complete interior refurbishment, as well as developing new maintenance capabilities at the airport that will enable the aircraft to take the next step towards launching passenger flights.
According to the carrier, since Global’s first flight on 15 February, the huge collective effort between Global, Hi Fly, Airbus and maintenance partners focused on returning the aircraft to service, conducting required maintenance and securing all necessary regulatory approvals.
James Asquith, CEO and Founder of Global Airlines said: “There were moments when I thought the aircraft would not make it out of America, but thanks to amazing efforts from Airbus, Hi Fly, our maintenance partners and of course our brilliant Global team, we now have our first aircraft in Europe and are in a position and a place where we can take even further strides forward.
“Getting to Europe is a significant milestone for Global Airlines and it’s the product of huge amounts of energy, resolve and belief in the project, on both sides of the Atlantic.
“I am particularly grateful to the team at Glasgow Prestwick Airport for welcoming 9H-GLOBL with such enthusiasm. I am so pleased that we now have the opportunity to work with industry leaders in the UK to build new A380 capabilities and expertise.
”Looking ahead, everybody in the team is moving forward to a really busy summer where we’ll start to showcase more and more of the Global offering and innovations that will make our airline unique.”
Commander Carlos Mirpuri, Vice-Chairman of Hi Fly Group, who was the chief pilot for the flights said after arriving at Prestwick: “This airplane is an engineering marvel, and I can’t get enough of it. This was a long journey across America and the Atlantic, and all went as expected.
“I wish Global Airlines success with it. It is time to conduct the rest of the return to service jobs so that passengers can enjoy flying this super jumbo. There is nothing like it.”
