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When it was first announced four years ago, it sounded like an aviation geek’s dream — an airline with a fleet consisting only of Airbus A380 superjumbos, the huge and majestic double-decker airplanes that offer unrivaled comfort in the sky.
Promotional images released by Global Airlines, a startup carrier founded by former investment banker and Guinness World Record holder James Asquith, added to the excitement, with images of smart cabins and even an onboard “pub.”
Now that the airline is counting down the days to its first flight, some of that gloss and excitement has begun to wear off and that flashy dream of an all-A380 fleet has still yet to fully materialize.
That’s not to say Global Airlines isn’t trying. Tickets have been on sale for the carrier’s debut: an “A380 experience,” as the carrier’s global chief commercial officer, Richard Stephenson, put it via email.
That involves a flight from Glasgow, Scotland, to New York on May 15 with a return flight scheduled for four days later on May 19. A second flight is then scheduled from Manchester, England, to New York on May 21, returning May 25.
The good news is, both services are due to be on an A380. And, according to Asquith — who told CNN in 2023, “I want a better product across the Atlantic and that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing” — the airline will serve Laurent-Perrier champagne in first class and Rova Caviar Madagascar in both first and business.
A splashy aviation launch is nothing new. Virgin Atlantic is known for its legendary premium booze-soaked kickoffs. Even United Airlines’ recent launch of a service from Tokyo to Mongolia capital Ulaanbaatar involved cupcakes and the ceremonial breaking of a barrel of sake.
Still, Global Airlines’ debut isn’t as big a reason for celebration as Asquith might have hoped.
Asquith founded Global in 2021 with a desire to return to a “golden age of air travel.” That meant, he said, offering travelers something of a step up for their buck on transatlantic flights, with a vision of superjumbo luxury that includes champagne and caviar.
“I’ve flown on about 280 different airlines and sat there seeing what’s good, what doesn’t work and what can be improved,” Asquith said in the 2023 CNN interview. He was applying those lessons to Global, he added.
The A380 was key to Global’s pitch. Following the pandemic, many superjumbos were parked with airlines believing air travel would not come back quickly enough to warrant their size. That made the planes attractive to a startup airline willing to take a bet on their 500-plus seats, as well as a savvy marketing ploy: come fly on the largest passenger plane in the skies!
The downside of an all-A380 fleet is that superjumbos are expensive to operate, from needing lots of fuel to higher airport landing and parking fees. An airline needs to fill most of the seats on the plane, and at a decent price, to make the economics work.
Things didn’t go as planned for Global. After announcing a deal for its first A380 in 2023, the airline did not actually get a plane — a different ex-China Southern Airlines model — until February 2024. That A380 then had to undergo maintenance and other modifications to meet Global’s specifications that were not complete until earlier this year.
“It was and has been gruesomely challenging,” Asquith wrote on LinkedIn in April. “There’s always something else in aviation, and I myself am guilty of harsh criticism. We have got things wrong, and will continue to do so, but we have the best intentions of making a better product as we go, and one that holds the highest safety standards as well.”
Global’s inaugural flights will not be a typical affair. Airlines usually wait to have all their i’s dotted and t’s crossed with regulators and be ready to fly a regular service travelers can rely on before they begin flying.
Global is taking a different route.
It only plans the four one-time flights in May from Glasgow to New York and back, and then the same from Manchester. Portuguese charter carrier Hi Fly will operate the first flights as Global does not anticipate securing its own operating certificate from UK authorities until 2026 at the earliest. And tickets can only be found on the website of travel consolidator GA.Flights — not on Expedia or via your local travel agent.
In other words, would-be travelers need to know Global exists and actively want to fly with it, otherwise they’re unlikely to stumble across the tickets.
So, why operate novelty debut flights when the airline doesn’t appear to be ready to throw its hat in the ring to fully compete with other transatlantic players?
“These two flights are charter flights and designed to give people the chance to fly on an A380 and test out the product we are offering,” Stephenson said.
That may be part of the reason but aviation experts believe it’s also an attempt to secure much-needed cash.
“Candidly, I think this is kind of an opportunity to try to raise some money, which they undoubtedly have to do in order to operate,” said Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and consultant based in New York.
A roundtrip economy class ticket for the inaugural Glasgow-New York flight and back was available for $1,034 (£778.62) on May 1. Not exactly cheap for a new airline trying to make a name for itself in the market.
Travelers could book a connecting flight from Glasgow to New York via Amsterdam on KLM for the same dates for as little as $525 round trip, according to Google Flights.
“There are many reasons for these flights and we are delighted that we have reached the point where our first aircraft is ready to carry passengers — a point that many experts said would never happen,” Stephenson said, responding to the fundraising speculation.
If fundraising is Global’s plan with its pair of inaugurals, leaving its A380 parked at JFK for four days between flights is an odd choice. Airlines must pay parking fees when they store a plane, especially at busy airports like New York.
“It’s probably close to 50 grand — I hope they raise that much,” said Mann of the parking fees.
Booking one of Global’s first flights comes with all of the risks of flying on a startup airline. They typically have minimal ability to accommodate travelers in the event of a flight delay and refunds are unlikely if there is a cancellation or other snafu.
“Travelers should stay informed, as with any startup, but it’s an interesting story to watch unfold,” said Ahmed Abdelghany, an associate dean in the business school at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.
Ticketholders on Global’s first flights are protected under the UK’s Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing, or ATOL, scheme that guarantees travelers refunds and, in the event they are stranded abroad, a repatriation flight back to the UK.
Global’s success “will likely depend on whether they can carve out a niche market that values comfort over cost and whether they can maintain operational reliability and regulatory compliance as a new entrant,” added Abdelghany.
Those caveats extend even to the first flights. Given the expense of operating even a limited number of flights, the relatively premium prices being charged, the large number of seats to fill and the obscurity of the sales platforms, Global is already fending off doubts over its viability.
“There is no reason for anyone to be concerned,” said Stephenson. “We have just flown our first passengers (twice) and everything ran very smoothly and with no issues at all, so our proof of concept program is going very well!”
The flights he referred to were two services from Barcelona to Berlin on May 2, and Berlin to London’s Gatwick airport on May 3. The flights carried a limited number of passengers who enjoyed some of Global’s onboard offerings, leading many experts to believe they were familiarization flights for crew ahead of Global’s transatlantic debut.
Stephenson says things are going “very well,” but at this nascent stage, the stakes are high for the fledgling airline.
But the cult appeal of the A380 and the prospect of riding on an airline’s first-ever service — plus the marketing buzz amplified by Asquith’s 1.1 million Instagram followers — could be more than enough to ensure it makes it down the runway.
