International Airways is the suspicious UK-based Airbus A380 “airline startup.” Properly, the airline has simply introduced that it has acquired its first Airbus A380, to not be confused with the opposite first Airbus A380 it acquired final yr…
International Airways takes full possession of first Airbus A380
International Airways has taken full possession of the Airbus A380 with the MSN 120. The roughly 11-year-old jet was delivered to China Southern in 2013, earlier than being put in storage in late 2022, as China Southern retired its Airbus A380 fleet.
The plane is supplied with 506 seats, together with eight firstclass suites, 70 enterprise class seats, and 428 financial system class seats.
In fact International Airways is promising the world’s best passenger expertise throughout the board, so presumably these interiors simply gained’t do for this main airline.
International Airways has totally acquired the plane from Jet Midwest, and it now carries the license plate 9H-GLOBL. The airplane is at present on the Mojave Airport (MHV), the place Enterprise Class Aviation and HiFly have accomplished the return to service work for the plane.
The airline claims in a press launch that it has advised these engaged on bringing the airplane again to service “to go above and past by way of the return to service works.” Lol. The airline claims that the airplane will depart Mojave Airport within the subsequent few weeks, “with its subsequent vacation spot introduced sooner or later.” There’s quite a lot of “introduced sooner or later” motion at this airline, eh?
Right here’s what James Asquith, CEO of International Airways, needed to say about this improvement:
“Buying an plane takes an outstanding period of time, and over the previous yr, we, with assist from companions, have been placing the constructing blocks in place to take full possession of the plane and plan its first flight.
“Plenty of folks predicted we wouldn’t make it even this far, and I couldn’t be happier to be giving MSN 120 a second lease of life.
“The truth that after such a rigorous inspection from BCA and Hello Fly,the plane was discovered to be in such good situation is testemant not solely to our unwavering dedication to security, however to the enginerring excellence of Airbus.
“I need to additionally thank Jet Midwest for all their assist and help this previous yr, and hopefully we will work with them on figuring out and buying extra A380’s and growing our fleet.”
Wait, what about International Airways’ different first A380?!?
If the story of International Airways buying its first Airbus A380 sounds acquainted, it’s for good purpose. In Might 2023, International Airways introduced that it acquired its first Airbus A380:
“International Airways, the world’s latest long-haul airline, has made a big leap in the direction of revolutionising industrial aviation with the acquisition of its first A380 plane from Doric Aviation.”
“The acquisition of the A380 by International Airways was made at an undisclosed value, understood to be within the eight-figure vary, demonstrating the airline’s dedication to buying top-quality belongings and investing in its future success.”
That specific Airbus A380 was the 17-year-old jet with the license plate 9H-MIP. That airplane first flew for Singapore Airways, after which for HiFly, earlier than reportedly being acquired by International Airways.
So what occurred there? Who the heck is aware of, the airline isn’t even addressing that. On the whole, it doesn’t instill a lot confidence when the airline claims it’s buying its first airplane a number of instances. Like, did they storm the plane graveyard and simply put some decals on the airplane, or…? 😉
Now, to International Airways’ credit score, the ex-China Southern A380 leaves the airline loads higher positioned to launch operations than the ex-Singapore Airways A380. Lengthy story quick, the ex-Singapore Airways A380 enterprise class seats are now not licensed to fly, and right here’s a thread by @thatjohn explaining why.
At the least the ex-China Southern A380 interiors are tremendous to fly, if the airline chooses to launch operations that means. International Airways now claims that it plans to launch operations in late 2024, initially working constitution companies, or one thing.
Backside line
International Airways claims to have now totally acquired its first Airbus A380, which is a former China Southern jet. The airline claims the airplane can be flying someplace within the coming weeks, however gained’t say what the vacation spot is.
Maybe the strangest factor about all of this — I imply, apart from this idea altogether — is that in Might 2023 the airline had additionally introduced it acquired its first Airbus A380. I’m unsure what occurred to that airplane, as a result of apparently it’s not the primary A380 anymore.
What do you make of this International Airways A380 improvement?
