Latest news with #JamesAsquith
The Irish Sun
7 days ago
- Business
- The Irish Sun
New UK airline with cheap US fares is ‘parked' after just TWO flights – with people fearing it's been scrapped for good
A BRAND new UK airline's only plane has been stored after just two commercial flights, raising questions over the airline's future. 3 Global Airlines' only aircraft has been stored in Tarbes, France Credit: Reddit It made its inaugural flight on May 19 from Glasgow Airport to New York's JFK, returning four days later. It's only other journey was from Manchester Airport and Global Airlines' only plane '9H-GLOBL' has now been parked at Tarbes Airport in France, which is the largest aircraft storage facility in Europe. The facility is usually used for long-term storage. Read more on travel inspo Tarbes is often used by airlines to store or recycle aircraft with aviation news site In a LinkedIn post, the airline said: "After completing the latest maintenance in Dresden, 9H-GLOBL will be heading to Tarbes to park until it is time to head off to the next stage of heavy maintenance. "It's always great to see her in the sky and it won't be long before she is up in the clouds once again on the way to the next adventure." Tarbes Airport is often referred to as an 'aircraft boneyard' or Most read in News Travel Boneyard facilities are often used to store aircraft while they receive maintenance. Other aircraft may be disassembled and parts sold before planes are then scrapped. Global Airlines Take-Off According to Simple Flying, Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport near the French Pyrenees, is the most notable boneyard in France. TARMAC Aerosave operates at the airport, to store, maintain and recycle aircraft and can handle over 100 aircraft at any one time. One person said on Reddit: "Love the A380, sucks to see one going back to storage and when looking at the news surrounding Global Airlines, I'm not sure if we'll see this Another user added: "They were never an airline in the first place - they don't have an air certificate, their recent 'flights' earlier this year were just PR exercises with HiFly operating the plane on their behalf." A third user commented: "How does it need heavy check already?" The Global Airlines website still states that it will be "landing soon" with "a new website and news of the first flights on 9H-GLOBL to 3 As a result, people have started to question what it means for the airline's future Credit: Alamy However, if you try to access the 'story' page about the The airline previously pledged to take travelled back to the 'Golden Age' of travel and is the second airline to operate an Airbus 380 secondhand. Return economy flights were £778, 95 per cent more expensive than a standard £399 British Airways seat. However, slow sales saw this price more than halved. Now with the aircraft in storage, it is unclear when and if it will fly again. Will the airline take off? Lisa Minot, The Sun's head of travel weighs in. IT'S being billed -by its millionaire owner - as a game-changing new airline that will revolutionise the passenger experience. But despite the lofty ambitions of its founder James Asquith - and its first commercial flight today from Glasgow to New York - the plain fact remains, it is simply not a functioning airline yet. With just two fixed-date, charter flights from Glasgow and another - from Manchester later this month, the airline does not yet have the necessary permits - or slots - to fulfill its original ambition of launching regular scheduled flights from Gatwick to New York. It is also taking on the big boys of the UK and US aviation industry on the most popular transatlantic route. Asquith is looking to offer a revolutionary new service by using the huge Airbus A380 but Global's only functioning plane - flying on the Glasgow inaugural today - is a 12-year-old A380 that was owned by China Southern. Despite promising five different classes on the plane - including a much vaunted 'gamer class' that would sit between premium economy and business class and feature pods where passengers could play Xbox and PS5s - the aircraft taking off this week will feature just the original three classes if flew as a China Southern outfit - first, business and economy. The London to New York route is lucrative for the legacy airlines like British Airways and Virgin as the number of business class passengers mean it can bring in decent profits. Global Airline's plane will have fewer premium seats than its competitors on an older plane - and right now can't even offer scheduled flights or regular departures. While competition is always good for passengers, Global has a mountain to climb before it can consider itself a serious alternative to the traditional carriers. It will be interesting to see if the ambitions translate into a real game-changer of a service. An abandoned UK airport is set to reopen its doors after a decade in a £500m revamp – and could offer Ryanair and easyJet flights. Plus, a 3 The airline claims that 'it won't be long before she [the plane] is up in the clouds once again' Credit: Wikipedia
Scottish Sun
7 days ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
New UK airline with cheap US fares is ‘parked' after just TWO flights – with people fearing it's been scrapped for good
Plus, The Sun's Lisa Minot weighs in on the potential success of the airline GROUNDED New UK airline with cheap US fares is 'parked' after just TWO flights – with people fearing it's been scrapped for good Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A BRAND new UK airline's only plane has been stored after just two commercial flights, raising questions over the airline's future. Global Airlines, founded by 36-year-old British multimillionaire James Asquith, has been placed in storage in France after just two return flights. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Global Airlines' only aircraft has been stored in Tarbes, France Credit: Reddit It made its inaugural flight on May 19 from Glasgow Airport to New York's JFK, returning four days later. It's only other journey was from Manchester Airport and New York on May 21, returning May 25. Global Airlines' only plane '9H-GLOBL' has now been parked at Tarbes Airport in France, which is the largest aircraft storage facility in Europe. The facility is usually used for long-term storage. Tarbes is often used by airlines to store or recycle aircraft with aviation news site Simple Flying claiming it is the place aircraft go 'when the time comes'. In a LinkedIn post, the airline said: "After completing the latest maintenance in Dresden, 9H-GLOBL will be heading to Tarbes to park until it is time to head off to the next stage of heavy maintenance. "It's always great to see her in the sky and it won't be long before she is up in the clouds once again on the way to the next adventure." Tarbes Airport is often referred to as an 'aircraft boneyard' or 'aircraft graveyard'. Boneyard facilities are often used to store aircraft while they receive maintenance. Other aircraft may be disassembled and parts sold before planes are then scrapped. Global Airlines Take-Off According to Simple Flying, Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport near the French Pyrenees, is the most notable boneyard in France. TARMAC Aerosave operates at the airport, to store, maintain and recycle aircraft and can handle over 100 aircraft at any one time. One person said on Reddit: "Love the A380, sucks to see one going back to storage and when looking at the news surrounding Global Airlines, I'm not sure if we'll see this A380 returning to service." Another user added: "They were never an airline in the first place - they don't have an air certificate, their recent 'flights' earlier this year were just PR exercises with HiFly operating the plane on their behalf." A third user commented: "How does it need heavy check already?" The Global Airlines website still states that it will be "landing soon" with "a new website and news of the first flights on 9H-GLOBL to New York JFK". 3 As a result, people have started to question what it means for the airline's future Credit: Alamy However, if you try to access the 'story' page about the airline - you get a '404 - page not found' error. The airline previously pledged to take travelled back to the 'Golden Age' of travel and is the second airline to operate an Airbus 380 secondhand. Return economy flights were £778, 95 per cent more expensive than a standard £399 British Airways seat. However, slow sales saw this price more than halved. Now with the aircraft in storage, it is unclear when and if it will fly again. Will the airline take off? Lisa Minot, The Sun's head of travel weighs in. IT'S being billed -by its millionaire owner - as a game-changing new airline that will revolutionise the passenger experience. But despite the lofty ambitions of its founder James Asquith - and its first commercial flight today from Glasgow to New York - the plain fact remains, it is simply not a functioning airline yet. With just two fixed-date, charter flights from Glasgow and another - from Manchester later this month, the airline does not yet have the necessary permits - or slots - to fulfill its original ambition of launching regular scheduled flights from Gatwick to New York. It is also taking on the big boys of the UK and US aviation industry on the most popular transatlantic route. Asquith is looking to offer a revolutionary new service by using the huge Airbus A380 but Global's only functioning plane - flying on the Glasgow inaugural today - is a 12-year-old A380 that was owned by China Southern. Despite promising five different classes on the plane - including a much vaunted 'gamer class' that would sit between premium economy and business class and feature pods where passengers could play Xbox and PS5s - the aircraft taking off this week will feature just the original three classes if flew as a China Southern outfit - first, business and economy. The London to New York route is lucrative for the legacy airlines like British Airways and Virgin as the number of business class passengers mean it can bring in decent profits. Global Airline's plane will have fewer premium seats than its competitors on an older plane - and right now can't even offer scheduled flights or regular departures. While competition is always good for passengers, Global has a mountain to climb before it can consider itself a serious alternative to the traditional carriers. It will be interesting to see if the ambitions translate into a real game-changer of a service. An abandoned UK airport is set to reopen its doors after a decade in a £500m revamp – and could offer Ryanair and easyJet flights. Plus, a major airline has launched new UK flights to a popular African holiday destination – and breaks are just as cheap as Spain.
The Sun
7 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
New UK airline with cheap US fares is ‘parked' after just TWO flights – with people fearing it's been scrapped for good
A BRAND new UK airline's only plane has been stored after just two commercial flights, raising questions over the airline's future. Global Airlines, founded by 36-year-old British multimillionaire James Asquith, has been placed in storage in France after just two return flights. 3 It made its inaugural flight on May 19 from Glasgow Airport to New York 's JFK, returning four days later. It's only other journey was from Manchester Airport and New York on May 21, returning May 25. Global Airlines' only plane '9H-GLOBL' has now been parked at Tarbes Airport in France, which is the largest aircraft storage facility in Europe. The facility is usually used for long-term storage. Tarbes is often used by airlines to store or recycle aircraft with aviation news site Simple Flying claiming it is the place aircraft go 'when the time comes'. In a LinkedIn post, the airline said: "After completing the latest maintenance in Dresden, 9H-GLOBL will be heading to Tarbes to park until it is time to head off to the next stage of heavy maintenance. "It's always great to see her in the sky and it won't be long before she is up in the clouds once again on the way to the next adventure." Tarbes Airport is often referred to as an 'aircraft boneyard' or 'aircraft graveyard'. Boneyard facilities are often used to store aircraft while they receive maintenance. Other aircraft may be disassembled and parts sold before planes are then scrapped. Global Airlines Take-Off According to Simple Flying, Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées Airport near the French Pyrenees, is the most notable boneyard in France. TARMAC Aerosave operates at the airport, to store, maintain and recycle aircraft and can handle over 100 aircraft at any one time. One person said on Reddit: "Love the A380, sucks to see one going back to storage and when looking at the news surrounding Global Airlines, I'm not sure if we'll see this A380 returning to service." Another user added: "They were never an airline in the first place - they don't have an air certificate, their recent 'flights' earlier this year were just PR exercises with HiFly operating the plane on their behalf." A third user commented: "How does it need heavy check already?" The Global Airlines website still states that it will be "landing soon" with "a new website and news of the first flights on 9H-GLOBL to New York JFK". 3 However, if you try to access the 'story' page about the airline - you get a '404 - page not found' error. The airline previously pledged to take travelled back to the 'Golden Age' of travel and is the second airline to operate an Airbus 380 secondhand. Return economy flights were £778, 95 per cent more expensive than a standard £399 British Airways seat. However, slow sales saw this price more than halved. Now with the aircraft in storage, it is unclear when and if it will fly again. Will the airline take off? Lisa Minot, The Sun's head of travel weighs in. IT'S being billed -by its millionaire owner - as a game-changing new airline that will revolutionise the passenger experience. But despite the lofty ambitions of its founder James Asquith - and its first commercial flight today from Glasgow to New York - the plain fact remains, it is simply not a functioning airline yet. With just two fixed-date, charter flights from Glasgow and another - from Manchester later this month, the airline does not yet have the necessary permits - or slots - to fulfill its original ambition of launching regular scheduled flights from Gatwick to New York. It is also taking on the big boys of the UK and US aviation industry on the most popular transatlantic route. Asquith is looking to offer a revolutionary new service by using the huge Airbus A380 but Global's only functioning plane - flying on the Glasgow inaugural today - is a 12-year-old A380 that was owned by China Southern. Despite promising five different classes on the plane - including a much vaunted 'gamer class' that would sit between premium economy and business class and feature pods where passengers could play Xbox and PS5s - the aircraft taking off this week will feature just the original three classes if flew as a China Southern outfit - first, business and economy. The London to New York route is lucrative for the legacy airlines like British Airways and Virgin as the number of business class passengers mean it can bring in decent profits. Global Airline's plane will have fewer premium seats than its competitors on an older plane - and right now can't even offer scheduled flights or regular departures. While competition is always good for passengers, Global has a mountain to climb before it can consider itself a serious alternative to the traditional carriers. It will be interesting to see if the ambitions translate into a real game-changer of a service. An abandoned UK airport is set to reopen its doors after a decade in a £500m revamp – and could offer Ryanair and easyJet flights. Plus, a major airline has launched new UK flights to a popular African holiday destination – and breaks are just as cheap as Spain. 3
Daily Mail
04-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Global Airlines boss hits back at critics as he defends 'challenging' first flight and reveals future for the company
Entrepreneur and travel enthusiast James Asquith promised to revive the 'golden age of flying' when he launched Global Airlines last month. But the inaugural flight, from Glasgow to New York, was heavily criticised by passengers and currently no other flights are scheduled. In a lengthy statement on LinkedIn, James and the team at Global have now hit back at the critics, and claimed there's been a lot of misinformation online about the future of the new brand. They said: 'There has been a lot of noise since the first passenger flights on 9H-GLOBL took place over the last fortnight. 'We are delighted that so many people have shown so much interest and want to say thank you to all for being part of this journey. 'We think everyone, whether a passenger, supporter, critic, armchair expert, or complete novice with opinions, can agree that this really was a monumental achievement – and one that most never thought we would reach. 'Thanks for all the words of support and congratulations for proving so many wrong!' They continued: 'It is quite clear from much of what we are seeing and reading that some have decided to take huge speculation and repeat it as fact. In a lengthy statement, James and the team at Global have now hit back at the critics, and claimed there's been a lot of misinformation online about the future of the new brand. 'It's a shame when this happens because it's super misleading and the folk reading it can get a bit overexcited about what is actually complete rubbish. 'We want to apologise for generating so much interest and speculation and we want to remind everyone not to believe everything you see, hear and read. 'We also want to remind those people who choose to repeat speculation as fact that you might want to check information before amplifying fiction.' 'We still have our eye on the ultimate goal of becoming a scheduled airline in the future, but we recognise there are still a lot of things to tackle on that journey.' An economy return ticket on Global's inaugural flight was significantly higher than other airlines at £778. First-class tickets were even more at £7,127, and business class at £3,700. And one of the main criticisms of Global's first flight was that it wasn't fully booked, and there were a lot of empty seats. But the team at Global said they never planned to operate full services on their flights in order to 'test our service and products and we wanted to focus on our premium cabins'. They said: 'We had the perfect number of passengers on our flights to JFK – these flights were never planned to be full or even close to it. That was not the point of them. 'We didn't do any marketing, but simply reached out to our community online and in the wider aviation circles. We wanted to test our service and products and we wanted to focus on our premium cabins. 'We succeeded on all fronts and if we had more passengers we would never have got to test all the elements we wanted to try out. Perfect numbers for us!' Travel experts also had mixed reactions to the service onboard Global's maiden flight, especially the cabins, lack of entertainment system and the food. And James and the team admitted: 'Our first flight was a bit of a challenge – now, this one is true!' Defending the inflight experience, they explained the reason for this was the plane had undergone significant maintenance and regulatory checks after 'being brought back from the desert'. They added: 'We apologise to any of our passengers who didn't have the best time – however, it is important to remember that many did have an amazing time and the feedback was incredible. Some didn't. We recognise that. 'Hopefully, we will be forgiven for our first attempt – especially because (as many have documented) the second, third and fourth flights were incredible.' Confirming its future is very much in the skies, the brand added: 'We're not planning to change any strategy to become an ACMI [Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, and Insurance] operator – ACMI has always been part of our discussions with Hi Fly, but nothing has changed about our direction of travel and the vision and ambition we have for the future.' Carriers which have failed to make a success of transatlantic flights include Norwegian, Wow Air and Primera Air. In a previous interview, James said Global Airlines is being funded by a combination of Holiday Swap Group and external investors, who he did not name. The airline originally planned to have 15 to 20 planes over the next two years and 'expand pretty aggressively from there', he explained.
Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Most airlines ignore economy — but these are the ones doing it well
Ah, the golden age of travel, said no one flying in economy. Don't mind us: we're too busy trying to fold up our limbs so we take up as few cubic inches as possible, reassert our extremities on armrests or find a space for the puny handbag that was all we were allowed to take for free. Perhaps the boss of Emirates has a point. This week Sir Tim Clark said that economy class has long been ignored in favour of premium seats and is stuck in the 1990s. While there has been huge innovation in the expensive seats, including bumper premium economy cabins (Virgin Atlantic), snazzy double beds in first (Singapore Airlines), customisable lighting (Cathay Pacific's new Aria Suite) and 'ultra-first-class' (Lufthansa's Allegris cabin), plain old economy has remained just that. There has been some innovation. On the big blue-sky thinking end there's Global Airlines, whose first transatlantic flight took off from Glasgow to New York last month. The entrepreneur James Asquith wanted to recover some of the magic of the 'golden age of travel' with his new venture, which involves posh amenity kits and even champagne in economy, but after two odd one-off charter flights there's no indication when it might fly again. At the bottom end there is talk of stand-up seats, or double-decker seats, which the planemaker Airbus is exploring with the Spanish firm Chaise Longue, to pack even more passengers in. Unfortunately economy class is a topic I'm extraordinarily well qualified to talk about. You might think travel editors turn left but I find myself in seat 54K far more often than I'd like to admit. Over the past 15 years of doing this job I've flown on hundreds of flights in what feels like a billion different seats, from short hops on Ireland's Aer Lingus to long-haul travel on Air New Zealand. I have seen the state of decay across different brands in everything from 'lite' fares that only involve hand baggage and no food, all while paying hundreds of pounds for the privilege. Of course the state of economy varies hugely depending on the airline you're flying with, the aircraft itself and how old it is. Seat 26F on a knackered old Boeing 747 is not the same as seat 26F on a top-of-the-range Airbus A350. I'll take the cheap seats on an Airbus A380 — the world's largest passenger aircraft — where window seats in economy come with handy storage bins. But some airlines do a much better job than others. The Middle Eastern 'Gulfies', for example, are actually pretty good, although naturally bombastic products such as Qatar Airways' Qsuites — spacious cubicles for up to four sheikhs only, given the exorbitant cost — munch all the column inches. I flew from Heathrow via Dubai to Sri Lanka and back in an Emirates middle seat a few months ago; if you forgive the sensible beige-and-red colour scheme, plus its old-fashioned swirly carpet-like seats, you'll find hundreds of box-office films, yummy meals and some natty storage for your phone and glasses. (My only complaint is that due to Emirati taste each film had the language sanitised, so Bridget Jones's memorable line about the Iraqi dictator came out as: 'I'd rather have a job washing Saddam Hussein's cars.' But then that's not economy's fault.) Same for Qatar Airways, with 13.3in TVs and amenity kits that now clog up my bathroom. It helps that its Doha hub, with its indoor waterfall and garden, is one of the most gorgeous airports there is. • Dear hotels, baths belong in bathrooms. The clue is in the name Air New Zealand and Qantas deserve a mention for their plush economy cabins — because the distances that they fly are so great, they have to be state-of-the-art. Qantas, which is planning nonstop London-to-Sydney flights, has a 'wellbeing zone' for mid-flight yoga and stretching on its Airbus A350 aircraft; Air New Zealand has the SkyCouch, where passengers can lounge across three seats as if they're in business. Somewhere in the middle is our very own British Airways. Although it did away with its free short-haul meals years ago and now you're lucky to get a bottle of water and a bag of ludicrously small pretzels, last year it announced an overhaul of its economy seats on short-haul aircraft, with snazzy quilted leather seats and various fast-charging USB plugs. On its transatlantic cousin in the Oneworld group of airlines, American Airlines, economy passengers do at least get a big can of Diet Coke to go with the free nuts. On the topic of food, I've always had a soft spot for Air France, which serves free champagne in economy; Swiss, which gives passengers a little bar of milk chocolate; and Virgin Atlantic with its free pots of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. It's the little things! Give me any of this over the Chinese airlines' 'vegetarian' options that actually mean chicken. Space is the main gripe of those who fly regularly down the back. The average pitch — the space between the back of one seat and the one in front — in economy is about 29 inches. A Which? report from April this year found that Aer Lingus and Air Canada had the most generous seat pitch in economy for a long-haul airline (31 inches), although the American airline JetBlue beats the lot of them with its ultra-wide seats, among the industry's best at 18 inches. • The best business class, first class and premium economy cabins You don't need to cross the pond to find this, though. The Scottish regional airline Loganair has a 30in seat pitch, the most generous among the short-haul carriers; as well as space you'll also get a lovely Harris Tweed tartan headrest cover, a proper brew and a Tunnock's caramel wafer. But presumably not on its shortest flight, which lasts just 53 seconds, from Westray to Papa Westray in Scotland's Orkney Islands. In this very scientific analysis it feels mean to target budget airlines such as easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz. They all get you from A to B safely with no faff; you'll have to bring your own martini glasses and caviar, as two TikTokkers did on an economy flight from New York to Miami. • Hand luggage: Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways policies explained That said, Wizz has started to fly medium-haul flights from London to Saudi Arabia — sevenish hours — with no free food, just one small handbag and no opportunity to recline the seat. You might need more than a martini to deal with that. If you are flying in economy, here's how to behave 1. Don't hog the armrests, especially if you have a window or an aisle seat. If you're stuck in the middle seat, this is your real estate to annex. Elbow others out of the way as appropriate.2. Respect the overhead bin space. If all you've got is an anorak and a tiny handbag, don't throw them up there with the Samsonites, which passengers have no doubt paid through the nose for. Put them under your seat and move them up there only when everyone else has boarded.3. Don't put your feet on the seats. In 2025 this shouldn't need saying but I've lost count of the number of passengers who disrobe and then put their icky feet everywhere — including poking through the gaps in the seats in front. Quite the mid-flight sharpener.4. If you're in a window or middle seat, control your liquid intake and don't tap passengers on the shoulder constantly asking to get up. This is particularly important on a night flight. What do you think airlines could do to improve their economy offering?
