Hi Fly Malta
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Founded | 2013 | ||||||
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AOC # | MT-24 | ||||||
Operating bases | Malta International Airport | ||||||
Fleet size | 11 | ||||||
Parent company | Hi Fly | ||||||
Headquarters | Skyparks Business Centre[broken anchor], Malta International Airport | ||||||
Website | hifly.aero |
Hi Fly Malta is a Maltese charter airline based at Malta International Airport and a subsidiary of the Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly.
History
[edit]Hi Fly Malta started operations in early 2013 with one Airbus A340-600 formerly operated by Virgin Atlantic with one more pre-owned on order[1][2] and planned to start scheduled operations to destinations in North America. During 2015, all of the airlines' aircraft had been stored and in May 2015 the A340-600s were sold to Al Naser Airlines, a front company for Mahan Air.[3]
Hi Fly Malta was reactivated in September with the re-registration of one A340-300 from the parent Portuguese company on the Maltese Business Registry and a second A340-300 was added in early 2016 that had previously flown for Sri Lankan Airlines.[4] Several former Emirates A340-300 airframes were added in 2017.
In the summer of 2018, Hi Fly became the first airline to buy a secondhand Airbus A380 (flown previously by Singapore Airlines[5]), placing an order for two. In autumn 2017, Hi Fly, in a sponsorship of the Turn the Tide on Plastic yacht team in the Volvo Ocean Race, painted one of its A330s in a livery similar to the yacht, with the port side bearing a dirty oceans livery and the starboard side a clean oceans livery.[6][7] On 19 July 2018, its newly painted Airbus A380, registered as 9H-MIP, arrived at the Farnborough Airshow, carrying the Save the Coral Reefs livery.[8] Hi-Fly's A380 saw a brief lease to Norwegian Long Haul in August 2018, which operated the aircraft following engine problems with its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.[9] Norwegian leased the A380 again in late 2018 to help deal with the passenger backlog as a result of the Gatwick Airport drone incident. In November 2020, the company announced that the A380 will be retired at the end of its three-year lease period and on 17 December 2020, the A380 made its final flight to Toulouse.[10]
One A319 was chartered to the now-defunct Brazilian Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos. In November 2021, it landed at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport and re-registered as PS-SIL to be converted to passenger configuration at TAP Hangar, but this never happened. After 3 months in Brazil the aircraft was scheduled to fly back to Europe and had its registration reverted back to 9H-XFW.[11]
Destinations
[edit]Hi Fly Malta has no scheduled destinations. Its planes operate on a charter and ACMI basis. One of its Airbus A340-300s (Registered 9H-TQM) was reconfigured for Swiss Space Systems prior to its liquidation, and retained a black livery with the Swiss Space Systems logo on the horizontal stabilizer prior to its retirement,[4] while its other airframes are unmarked except for registration.
Fleet
[edit]Current fleet
[edit]As of May 2024[update], Hi Fly Malta operates the following aircraft:[12][13]
Aircraft | In service | Orders | Passengers | Notes | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
F | C | W | Y | Total | ||||
Airbus A319-100 | 1 | — | – | – | – | 150 | 150 | In storage[14] |
Airbus A330-200 | 4 | — | – | 18 | 36 | 214 | 268 | Two units parked/under maintenance[14] |
– | 14 | 31 | 267 | 314 | ||||
Airbus A330-300 | 2 | — | – | 46 | – | 203 | 249 | |
– | – | – | 436 | 436 | ||||
Airbus A340-300 | 4 | — | 12 | 42 | – | 213 | 267 | Two units parked/under maintenance[14] |
– | 36 | – | 218 | 254 | ||||
– | 24 | – | 267 | 291 | ||||
Airbus A380 | 8 | 70 | - | 428 | 506 | Operated for Global Airlines. Currently parked.[14] | ||
12 | 60 | - | 399 | 470 | Currently parked.[14] | |||
Total | 11 | — |
Former fleet
[edit]Hi Fly Malta formerly also operated the following aircraft types:[14]
Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Airbus A321-200 | 2019 | 2021 | |
Airbus A330-900 | 2019 | 2022 | |
Airbus A340-600 | 2013 | 2015 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Hi Fly-ers head to Malta". Times of Malta. 25 February 2013.
- ^ "Hi Fly apply for Air Operator Certificate - The Malta Independent". www.independent.com.mt.
- ^ Mahan Air notice at airliners.de (in German)
- ^ a b Kaminski-Morrow2016-04-12T19:52:00+01:00, David. "Hi Fly supplies A340 for commercial zero-gravity flights". Flight Global. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ 9H-MIP Hi Fly Malta Airbus A380-800, https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/airbus-a380-800-9h-mip-hi-fly-malta/ek8yve
- ^ "New Turn the Tide on Plastic aircraft". Mirpuri Foundation. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
- ^ "Portuguese Hi Fly acquires two used Airbus A380". www.airlive.net. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
- ^ "PICTURES: Colourful Hi Fly A380 makes Farnborough bow". FLIGHTGLOBAL. 19 July 2018.
- ^ Morris, Hugh. "Budget fliers to New York could be upgraded to luxurious first class after Norwegian forced to lease A380". The Telegraph Online. The Telegraph. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ^ hifly.aero - A380 Farewell Flight 17 December 2020
- ^ "Airliner lost brazilian license". 10 February 2022.
- ^ "fleet". hifly.aero. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
- ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World. October 2019: 20.
- ^ a b c d e f "Hi Fly Malta Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
External links
[edit]- Media related to Hi Fly Malta at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website Archived 2019-04-11 at the Wayback Machine