Airlines Hi Fly to phase out Airbus A380

Charter airline Hi Fly has announced, it will retire its Airbus A380 aircraft from its fleet later this year.

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Hi Fly has released a statement, in which the carrier is announcing plans that see their sole Airbus A380 being retired from the fleet at the end of the lease term later this year. For almost three years, the aircraft performed successful operations.

But as a consequence of the Coronavirus pandemic, Hi Fly is now forced to part ways with the iconic aircraft, as travel demand is very low and will be low for the foreseeable future. Also, more and more governments are imposing new travel restrictions.

For Hi Fly especially, this pandemic situation means nearly no airline is bumping at its capacity limits and there are no needs for spontaneous charter operations, as every airline is operating a few flights only.

Regarding the aircraft, Hi Fly wrote in a statement: “Hi Fly belongs to the very exclusive club of only 15 airlines to ever operate the A380, the largest and most advanced aircraft of all times. This aircraft was a testimony to how far human being can go in developing something so extraordinary.”

The airline, which has the A380 registered in Malta, announced that the aircraft will be replaced with smaller Airbus A330s. Hi Fly said, the A330 would be a more adequate aircraft for current market conditions.

9H-MIP was delivered to Hi Fly Malta in July 2018 and has previously been flying with Singapore Airlines. The aircraft is now 14 years old and if it will ever find a new operator to fly with remains unclear.

For the period of time Hi Fly used the A380, the carrier represented a strong message across the fuselage “ “Save the Coral Reefs” was inspiring, and carried this responsible message to hundreds of millions of people in the four corners of the world,” the airline added.

Hi Fly is a Portuguese charter airline and operates with an all-Airbus fleet of nearly 20 aircraft. Hi Fly is offering services with smaller aircraft like the A319 or A321, but also with larger airliners like the A330-200, A330-300, A330-900, six A340-300s and the A380.

Source © hifly.aero

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