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Global Airlines first fully owned A380 yesterday touched down at Glasgow Prestwick Airport at 17:00 BST. The arrival of 9H-GLOBL in the UK was a momentous moment for Global and signalled another significant milestone being reached. With far more access to A380 infrastructure and expertise in Europe, MSN120 will now continue its journey back to commercial operations.
From Prestwick, the next steps for 9H-GLOBL will be for Global’s partners to start work on the complete interior refurbishment, and to develop new maintenance capabilities at the airport that will enable the aircraft to take the next step towards launching passenger flights.
Following the airline’s first flight on February 15th, huge collective effort between Global, Hi Fly, Airbus and maintenance partners was focused on returning the aircraft to service, conducting required maintenance and securing all necessary regulatory approvals.
Over a two-month period, Airbus supported technical and engineering assessments, with the Hi Fly crew also receiving bespoke simulator training. No stone was left unturned, and on April 26th, the approval was issued for the flight to Prestwick.
At 15.54 PST on April 30th, the aircraft, led by Commander Carlos Mirpuri and a crew of three, departed from the Mojave Air & Space Port in California, for the 5 hour and 40-minute flight to Montreal Mirabel International Airport (YMX), where it refuelled. The aircraft then headed across the Atlantic, direct to PIK, where it landed on runway 30 at 17:00 BST. The flight itself created significant local and online attention and was the most viewed flight of the day on Flight Radar with almost 40,000 viewers at its peak.
Speaking for the first time since the arrival of the aircraft in Scotland, James Asquith the 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.”
Glasgow Prestwick Airport CEO Ian Forgie said: “We are delighted to have supported Global with this key stage in their exciting journey. It was also the first time an A380 has landed at Prestwick so this was an exciting moment in Prestwick’s aviation history, and it drew a large crowd of aviation enthusiasts who wanted to witness the touchdown.”
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