Lol: Global Airlines “VIP Pre-Sale” Tickets Now Available

Guys, stop whatever you’re doing, it’s time to book an inaugural flight… or whatever you’d like to call this.

Global Airlines plans May 2025 launch, or something

I’ve written extensively about Global Airlines, an “airline startup” that plans to fly Airbus A380s. Global Airlines has for a long time claimed that its inaugural flight would be around the corner, despite little progress when it comes to getting the regulatory approval needed to operate flights (instead, months and months have been spent repainting the company’s A380).

Well, there’s now an interesting update — Global Airlines has just started allowing people to reserve “VIP pre-sale” tickets for the inaugural flights, on this website. Here’s how the airline describes this:

The teams at Global and our partners invite you to reserve your seats on our UK inaugural flights, taking off in May 2025. By registering below, you’ll be one of the first people to be invited to book your tickets in a private pre-sale — 24 hours before they are released to the public. Secure your place in aviation history. Reserve your seats now to be in with a chance to be among the first to experience Global.

The claim is that there will be two inaugural itineraries, clearly intended more for a European customer base:

• Global Airlines will operate a Glasgow (GLA) to New York (JFK) itinerary, departing on May 15 and returning on May 19
• Global Airlines will operate a Manchester (MAN) to New York (JFK) itinerary, departing on May 21 and returning on May 25

It’s worth noting that Global Airlines isn’t operating these flights under its own air operator certificate, but instead, they’re being operated by Portuguese charter company Hi Fly. So presumably it’ll be Hi Fly pilots and flight attendants operating these flights… which makes you wonder what exactly Global Airlines has been doing flight attendant recruiting for. Hi Fly actually has experience with the A380, as the company briefly operated the world’s first secondhand A380.

Global Airlines’ pre-sale website has “Reserve Now” buttons. You then fill out a form with your name, phone number, email address, and which of the trips you want.

You then get an email saying that you have “successfully reserved your place in the pre-sale.”

So, how much will my inaugural first class ticket cost me? No clue, the airline hasn’t said!

What on earth is even going on here?!

I’ve long said that Global Airlines is an unserious company, and I still believe that. Is the A380 that the company acquired airworthy? Of course. Is Hi Fly an expert in operating flights, and capable of operating Global Airlines’ A380? Of course.

Do I think that Global Airlines will ever operate regularly scheduled flights under its own air operator certificate? If you ask me, it’s highly unlikely, because nothing about this company adds up, and the people behind it are pretty questionable, for reasons I’ve outlined here.

So, what’s going on with these two roundtrip inaugural flights from Glasgow and Manchester to New York? First of all, let’s see if tickets actually go on sale, rather than just this “VIP pre-sale.” As I’ve now, all that’s being done is that forms are being filmed out.

I mean, at this point Global Airlines is about as close to accepting tickets as Global Ghana Airlines was, back in 2019. Who remembers that gem of an airline? Yes, according to the founder, the airline had to delay its inaugural flight because they accidentally hired “low altitude flight attendants” rather than “high altitude flight attendants,” and then they had to start over. Gosh, I hate when that happens!

Is it possible that these two Global Airlines itineraries actually operate? I’d peg the odds at maybe 25% that these two trips operate as planned, and that’s probably being generous. Like I said, the logistics here aren’t that complicated — the A380 is airworthy, Hi Fly is a reputable operator, etc.

That being said, what’s the point of these flights, exactly? It seems to me like this would basically just be an aviation geek trip, rather than anything testing commercial viability. I mean, we’re talking about a single roundtrip from Glasgow and Manchester to New York, with a four day stay on the ground, and a European point of sale.

Honestly, this all just keeps getting stranger, and I can’t wait to see how the coming weeks play out. If the inaugural actually happens, and assuming I’m not banned from this airline for my commentary, then you can bet I’ll be taking this flight!

To me, the biggest mystery with Global Airlines continues to be what the motive is for what’s going on here. If the people behind the company were serious about starting an airline, this isn’t how you’d go about it. Meanwhile I don’t see any obvious grift here, so it’s not like they’re fundraising super aggressively. It’s all very strange.

Bottom line

Global Airlines claims that it will launch in May 2025, with “VIP pre-sale” tickets becoming available soon. The company will for some reason launch two roundtrip itineraries to New York, each with a four day layover, out of Glasgow and Manchester. These will be operated in partnership with Hi Fly, so this doesn’t actually get the airline any closer to launching scheduled operations under its own air operator certificate.

What do you make of this Global Airlines VIP pre-sale situation?