UK-based startup Global Airlines' plans to launch passenger flights next year have taken a step forward.
With the airline's first aircraft now based at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, the next phase in its journey "to revolutionise commercial air travel" has commenced.
The Global livery has started to be applied on the airline's first Airbus A380 plane, with plans for the interior refurbishment "progressing", the airline said.
The next stage of maintenance work is also due to commence in the coming weeks, the airline added.
Airbourne Colours - Europe’s only privately-owned aircraft painting specialists in commercial and corporate aircraft painting, repainting and refinishing - took to social media following completion of the initial phase of work.
READ MORE: UK startup airline debuts its first A380 in Scotland
The company, which employs more than 150 people at its sites at East Midlands, Exeter and Teesside airport, posted: "Airbourne Colours recently completed the initial phase of a new livery identity on Global Airlines first Airbus A380.
"Our skilled team worked tirelessly at Glasgow Prestwick Airport to bring this aircraft to life with the application of the Global Airlines name.
"We look forward to working with the Global Airlines team on the next chapter of this fantastic journey."
The development comes after Global Airlines debuted its first A380 in Scotland in May when the aircraft flew from Mojave Air & Space Port in the California desert to Glasgow Prestwick Airport - via Montreal.
Global Airlines took full ownership of the A380, formerly operated by China Southern Airlines, in February this year. Prior to that, it was withdrawn from use and ferried to Mojave in late 2022.
The arrival at Glasgow Prestwick marked the first time an Airbus A380 has landed at the nationalised airport.
Produced by Airbus, the Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner.
According to aviation website Simple Flying, having transferred ownership to Global Airlines in January this year, the aircraft took a few test flights in February before embarking on its transatlantic crossing from Canada to Scotland.
The flight garnered significant interest online, with around 10,000 people tracking its journey on flight tracking site Flightradar24.
Following the arrival of the Airbus A380 to Prestwick, Global Airlines took to social media to celebrate what it called a "major milestone" in its development.
READ MORE: Airline giant in 'game-changer' return to Scottish airport
Founded by entrepreneur, James Asquith in 2021, Global Airlines aims to begin operations from London to New York City and Los Angeles in 2025, using a fleet of four Airbus A380s.
The airline's mission is to take passengers back to the "Golden Age of Travel, reinvigorating the onboard experience with elevated service and products across all three cabins: First, Business and Global Traveller".
In June, Global announced a new strategic partnership with tech-focused global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe as it prepares for the next stage of growth.
Orrick has partnered with Global as a strategic legal advisor to support the airlines investment strategy and capital raises.
Global said that the next phase of growth includes "hiring of key senior roles, investing in the return to service of 9H-GLOBL, as well as advancing plans to fully acquire further aircraft".
Commenting on the partnership with Orrick, Global Airlines CEO and Founder James Asquith said: "Since our flight across the Atlantic, appetite from large funds and institutional investors has never been higher and Orrick is well placed to support us as we build for the future."
Meanwhile, Global Airlines confirmed last week that it is also progressing to the final designs for the uniforms that crews will wear once flights are operational.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel