Global Airlines Mystery: Who Is Funding This Operation, And Why?

Last week, unusual Airbus A380 airline startup Global Airlines operated its first charter trip in partnership with Hi Fly, a roundtrip from Glasgow (GLA) to New York (JFK). This week, the airline is operating its second charter trip, from Manchester (MAN) to New York (JFK).

Not a whole lot about this operation made sense before the first charter flight was operated, and even less about this operation makes sense after the first charter flight was operated.

In recent days, I’ve had several discussions with various industry folks, and we basically all have the same question and confusion. So let’s talk about that a bit.

Global Airlines has proven us wrong… planes can fly

Many of us thought that Global Airlines would never take off, because the business case for the carrier never made sense. An airline exclusively flying A380s across the Atlantic while bringing back “the golden age of travel” doesn’t exactly sound like it adds much to the market. Let’s not even discuss how at one point the airline was going to have a “gamer class,” for those into video games.

So those of us who thought the airline would never operate flights were wrong. However, let’s be honest — what we were really wrong about is that people would be willing to light millions of dollars on fire, for zero apparent reason.

Last week’s transatlantic charter flight had fewer than 100 people on it, while this week’s charter flight reportedly once again has fewer than 100 people on it. This is a small percentage of the A380’s capacity. Never mind that the airline offered hugely discounted fares.

What has Global Airlines actually proven with these flights? The reviews of the onboard experience have been largely negative, to put it mildly. We’re talking about planes with super outdated interiors, no functioning seat back entertainment, outrageously slow service, lukewarm food, and seats that are partly falling apart.

Furthermore, Global Airlines hasn’t actually done any of this under its own air operator certificate — instead, the airline is partnering with a Maltese subsidiary of a Portuguese aircraft wet lease operator.

Heck, when CEO James Asquith was asked prior to the inaugural flight what was next for the carrier, he joked that maybe the A380 will be turned into a spa, and said he doesn’t know what the future holds:

“Who knows what happens tomorrow, who knows, we’ll see. Everyone said we wouldn’t get this far, right, including yourself, so let’s see. I think we’ve been pretty open and transparent with the journey, the difficulties, the problems, the challenges. Maybe we’ll turn the aircraft into a spa next.”

For that matter, the airline is no longer even pursuing an air operator certificate, but instead, plans to keep partnering with Hi Fly.

I can’t even fathom the amount of money that’s being lit on fire here, between the fuel bill, parking an A380 for several days at JFK, contracting out to Hi Fly, and more. It’s also not clear how operating two charter flights that very few people want to take, gets the airline any closer to having a business model and having a steady revenue stream.

What’s the motive for all of this, and who is funding it?

I’ve been following this industry for a long time, and I’ve seen my share of funky “airline startups.”

Some are legitimate scams. For example, Baltia comes to mind, as it acquired a Boeing 747, and for decades pretended it would imminently launch operations, with no intention of actually doing so. Some people lost their life savings through this, and others went to jail.

Then you have some airline startups that just seem to be people who are very passionate but who don’t actually plan to launch operations, and don’t defraud anyone. Global Ghana Airlines comes to mind.

But here’s the thing, Global Airlines is actually sort of the opposite of Baltia — Baltia spent years asking the public for money without actually operating a single flight, while Global Airlines is operating (money losing) flights, and isn’t publicly asking people for money.

What makes this whole operation so bizarre is that no one can actually figure out who is funding it. Like, I have some good industry sleuth friends, and no one has the slightest clue who is pouring millions into this operation.

James Asquith is the 36-year-old guy behind the airline. I don’t know him personally, and I get the sense that he’s just sort of trying to live out his childhood dream of starting an airline, in the strangest way possible.

I can’t wrap my head around what’s going through his head, though. Is this all going exactly the way he planned, and he’s happy with the status of things? He’s definitely lashing out at “haters” a bit more, and often gives non-serious answers when asked about the future of the airline.

I should mention that there are reports out there that Asquith is worth more than £180 million. I have zero insights there, but I don’t see any credible reason to believe that’s even remotely accurate, and that he’s funding the operational himself.

The whole basis for that number seems to be a theoretical valuation of Holiday Swap, a company that Asquith started, and we have reason to believe that some liberties were taken when it comes to that company’s valuation.

But yeah, there are so many questions here. Who is funding the operation, why, and how much longer will they be happy lighting money on fire? After all, come next week, the two charter flights will be over, the airline will be poorer, and it will have an A380 that it needs to do something with.

Bottom line

To Global Airlines’ credit, the airline has operated its first flights with passengers, in partnership with Hi Fly. That’s awesome, since many of us didn’t think it would happen. However, the airline clearly did that at a huge loss, as both journeys so far sold very poorly, and the reviews haven’t been great.

So that raises the question of what’s next for the airline, and who is funding the operation. The company’s CEO is basically just joking and saying “we’ll see” when asked about what the future holds. When we see these strange airline startups, it’s usually easy enough to figure out who is behind it, and what their motive is, even if some people refuse to accept reality.

However, in this case, I haven’t come across a single person who actually has a good idea of what parties are funding this, and to what end.

Anyone have any insights into Global Airlines’ finances?