After just over two years of operation of the aircraft, Hi Fly has said goodbye to its only Airbus A380. The airline decided to end their lease because the COVID-19 crisis made it impossible to find buyers to book the plane.
Despite Airbus ’efforts to promote a second-hand active market for the Airbus A380, these intentions have not yet been shattered. Dr. Peters Group is currently trying to find homes for four of the former Air France A380s. In fact, so far, Hi Fly is the only customer to fly a second-hand A380.
Farewell 9H-MIP
Today was the last flight of 9H-MIP for Hi Fly when the airline returned the flight to Toulouse. The plane first flew to the home of Hi Fly’s Beja on July 23, 2018, after appearing at the Farnborough Air Show. The plane was chartered from Doric Aviation, the same company it owned when Singapore Airlines re-operated it.
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Typically, when 9H-MIP is flown between Beja and Toulouse, the flight time clocks between 1: 20-1: 30 hours. This was not the case with the last flight today. In honor of farewell, Hi Fly flew the plane out over the Atlantic and then proceeded to draw a huge lopsided heart in the skies. It took the airline 25 minutes to pull a heart. With an overview of Beja and Toulouse, the total flight time came in at three hours and nine minutes.
In November 2019, El Al painted the skyline of a Boeing 747 in the skies during the last flight of its kind.
A second hand A380 is not required
Its main selling point is the large size Airbus A380. It is also the fall of the plane. This was already evident before the COVID-19 crisis, with Air France marking such a retirement. Since then, many more space giants have been established, with Emirates and Southern China as the only regular operators.
At one point, there was talk of Hi Fly taking a second Airbus A380. In July 2019, the airline told Simple Flying in an exclusive interview,
“Our plan is to run the A380 for a full fiscal year before deciding when to bring the next one, a second unit may arrive next year. We believe additional A380 aircraft will be joining our fleet soon. ”
The airline eventually hit the death of the plane on the COVID-19 emergency. A study of the use of the aircraft by Simple Flying with data from FlightRadar24.com showed that the planes had spent most of their time with Hi Fly without flying, even before the pandemic. Since the spread of the pandemic, the airline’s A380 flights have been rare, with Hi Fly trying to corner it as a preighter.
Will you miss Hi Fly’s Air Fly A380? Is it the right decision to return the plane? Let us know what you think in the comments!