MUGFOUNDRY

A new UK airline has been unveiled, and it’s already selling tickets for its inaugural Glasgow to New York flight.

But they don’t come cheap: an economy return ticket on Global Airlines will cost passengers £778.

Compare that with a £399 British Airways fare for the same dates, and it’s almost 95% more expensive.

Fares for the premium seats spiral to dizzying amounts. Business class is £3,700, and first costs a staggering £6,506 (although granted, the first-class suites do seat two).

So what’s it all about?

Global is the brainchild of self-made UK millionaire, James Asquith, who became the youngest person ever to travel to all 196 countries, aged just 24.

Already CEO and founder of Airbnb rival, Holiday Swap, James announced plans for his start-up airline back in 2022 — a dream he’d had since he was a child, growing up with pilot parents.

In a world where Ryanair charges €55 for the simple pleasure of checking in at the airport, James has vowed that Global would ‘bring back the golden age of air travel, with a modern flair.’

In other words, that it will make flying glam again.

For first-class passengers, that would mean 12ft long ‘suites’ with the potential for a double bed. Forgetting no subgenre of traveller, the airline even created a ‘Gamer class’, complete with Xbox and Playstations.

Everyone, from economy to first, would also be provided with free champagne, thanks to a partnership with Laurent-Perrier.

Ambitious plans said flights would launch from London Gatwick in 2023, and that by 2025, a fleet of 100 planes would fly from European hubs too.

However, as with most start-ups, not everything went according to plan. But as tickets went on sale this week, James’ dream has finally become a reality.

Yet with such expensive flights, can he really succeed?

The expert view

Aviation experts aren’t convinced.

The crux of the issue? James’ business plan is based on using a particular type of aircraft: the Airbus A380, the largest commercial passenger aircraft.

These massive, double-decker planes are no longer being made; there are now less than 200 in circulation, after being discontinued in 2021. Today, Emirates remains the largest carrier of A380s.

Aviation expert and professor of aviation management at Dublin City University, Marina Efthymiou, tells Metro that the planes fell out of favour due to running costs.

‘The A380 is a massive plane, with four engines, and space for lots of different classes,’ Marina explains.

‘Starting an airline is already incredibly expensive: you need to buy the planes, find the staff, and get your air operator’s certificate from the Civil Aviation Authority, which can cost hundreds of thousands.’

Which begs the question, why does James think he can build a business on these planes?

And that’s where the industry is stumped.

The entrepreneur recently told The Independent that the A380s are actually Global’s USP as ‘people want the largest commercial aircraft in the world.’

‘It’s a passenger favourite,’ he said. ‘It’s a crew favourite. It’s a pilot favourite. And obviously an airport favourite as well.’

He even cited the glamorous Pan Am flight attendants as a reference point for the kind of experience Global Airlines could offer both passengers and employees.

As the world still digests the confusing news that an army of uber-rich celebrities headed off to space on a glorified hen-do, is this yet another example of a rich man offering the elite an extravagant way to take to the skies?

‘It could be a case of “boys with big toys”,’ says Marina. ‘Maybe he just wanted to own an airline in the same way some men want a football club.

‘But A380s aren’t that prestigious anymore. They might be a novelty, and people might be curious, but in the aviation world, they’re not that impressive.’

And given the ratio of first-class passengers to economy, the idea that Global is only for the top 0.1%, doesn’t quite ring true either.

At the time of writing, the seat map for the inaugural flight, available on the Global website at booking, showed eight suites (room for 16 passengers) within the first-class cabin.

‘It would be easy to say he’s just catering to an elite, but the majority of Global’s passengers will be in economy, paying the lowest fares,’ says Marina.

Another problem with A380s is their load factor, which relates to how efficiently they are can fill available seats.

‘The A380s can carry from around 500 to more than 800 people, depending on the configuration of seats,’ says Marina.

‘This is a huge amount of passengers, which even big airlines have problems filling. The average on a transatlantic flight route is about 250.

‘Global could be flying with half-empty planes and there are already very thin profit margins when it comes to plane tickets.

‘How long Global can survive, will depend on how rich James Asquith is, and how long he is able to afford operating at a loss.’

Metro contacted Global Airlines for comment. After registering an interest in providing comment for this article, they did not respond to further communications.

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