Yesterday, a Hi-Fly charter airplane took off from Glasgow bound for New York, with Hi-Fly crews and pilots. If you read the papers, it was purportedly ‘Global Airlines’ maiden flight, even though there’s no regularly scheduled service, the pilots and crew weren’t theirs, they couldn’t legally sell airline tickets on their own website and they don’t have a license to operate.
In 2025, crazy things are par for the course, so that didn’t stop all sorts of promising headlines of a revolution in the skies. This is the airline that promised stunning innovation and joy in the air, and the press gave Global Airlines an early gift, by comparing the story to Richard Branson and Virgin Atlantic. That’s just insane, as you’ll soon read.
In reality, anyone can charter a plane and have Hi-Fly operate it, and anyone foolish enough can pay extra for a custom paint job with their logo, or more financially insane — buy a scrapyard A380 and be on the hook for its maintenance, while paying a third party to fly it.
The whole ‘Global’ pitch was that people love the Airbus A380, hate all the current global airline experiences ( really?) and airline services — and a revolution in the skies can happen again. It sounded exciting. We all like to dream. Global’s first flight would be the testament to what air travel can be and something passengers love. So, how’d they do?
Global Will Never Be Virgin Atlantic, Or Real
When Virgin Atlantic launched in 1984, the airline industry had been in a massively “beige” management consultant style, joy killer phase for a decade.
The fun “golden era” aircraft spaces and frills of the 60’s had largely been stripped out and bus travel comparisons were totally fair. Richard Branson’s light hearted approach to service and differentiated selling could shift dollars and votes — and measurably did.
Let me be very clear: that simplicity in differentiation is no longer the case. You cannot shift wallets and put butts in seats just by saying you have a cool airplane alone, or a bar on board (particularly when it’s just a beverage cart that says pub).
From leading (actually real) global airlines, passengers expect, at minimum, the following…
- A G-R-E-A-T mobile app
- A strong safety record and culture
- Functioning in-flight WiFi
- Excellent seat back entertainment
- Ease of booking across channels
- Modern seats with tech, with charging
- Flight schedules that fit diverse needs
When “Global”, and by Global I really do legally, technically mean Hi-Fly the jet charter company which actually flew the scrapyard plane that “Global” bought, they did NOT have…
- Functioning WiFi (or wifi at all)
- Charging ports (surely that’s basic these days, even on basic carriers?)
- Working seat-back screens (maybe they forgot you need to license content?)
- Ease of booking (you couldn’t legally book tickets from Global, so you had to do so on a third party website with no history of trust or clients)
- A schedule that fits anyone. (The plane journey was a one-off to New York, with a set return date four days later, with no further scheduled service. Good luck if your partner goes into labor early.)
- Modern seats, or even differentiated seats. (These were 12+ year old seats from China Southern without real refurb AND without the functioning screens they had for that real previous airline.)
Travel blogger Noel Phillips shared some of the trip with his following. The following screen grabs are…. cute?
Old Airline Tropes And Modern Truths
The truth is, Virgin Atlantic didn’t have nearly as gargantuan of a task in the 80’s as any airline coming to market does today. In the 80’s many airlines were stuck, did lack innovation and had a pool of largely uninspired talent, with no experience outside of the airline vertical. There also wasn’t this whole technology thing, as standard expectation.
That’s all so far from the case these days and most that are specialized in the airline world are wickedly sharp. Most new people I know at airlines now also come from major tech companies, other travel verticals or impactful innovation firms.
Airlines are getting pretty good at this ole’ air travel thing.
A differentiated approach to smiles on board and a little bit of extra focus on fun, food and drinks could really shift minds and mentalities in the 1980’s. Everyone likes to feel special and Virgin, forever, has made people feel special at a time without tech. I’d argue Virgin has taught Delta a lot about that, and it’s a contributing factor to Delta’s rise as a premium airline.
But that’s no longer good enough!
Getting people to fly with you is now about safety, reliability, excellence in mobile technology, schedule and personalization. Sure, these legacy airlines can appear stuffy at times, but my god, can you not marvel at the technology revolution making air travel journeys excellent?
Which airport matters. Whether there’s a lounge can matter, and what’s in it too!
I board a United, or any serious airline flight nowadays and see a notification that my bag is loaded onto a cart to be loaded on the plane, then again when it’s loaded onto the plane!
I hit the wifi and I’m connected sitting at the gate. If for some reason the flight is at all delayed, or connection in jeopardy, I can instantly rebook onto any other service at no charge, without talking to a soul, with just a tap on the app.
Their sea back screens have blockbuster movies, boxsets and everything else.
The app navigates me through the airport and tells me when my zone is boarding. The food is solid, the beverages are better because of their scale (buying power) and there are fewer poor customer service interactions because of how tech forward and seamless journeys are.
And so do all the other big airlines. This is like… baseline for a real player.
Tell me, or ask the Global Airlines CEO, James Asquith, where in the roadmap all of these essentials are? I want to make it clear that their priority for the last three years was a Soho House press conference about serving champagne in economy, maybe, “if they could get the economics right” rather than any of these basic things.
And in the end, they didn’t even deliver on the silly things they prioritized. The first Global flight wasn’t a remotely differentiated take on economy, business or first, as promised. It was 12 year old seats from another lackluster airline, without real refurb and even the long haul dignity of any seat back entertainment, which that airline which scrapped the plane offered.
If Richard Branson was at the helm, they never would’ve let that flight take off. Making a splash means at least doing one thing differently, right? An airline promising total innovation, A380 experience and differentiation cannot launch a flight which does not even meet the basic standards of budget carriers like Norse. You just can’t take off.
Asquith Will Never Be Branson, Rude To Compare
Let’s not forget that when Richard Branson formed Virgin Atlantic, he’d already made a notable number of businesses in the UK, was quite famous, and filed records and company books in a place where they are scrutinized. He was “real”, even if some was bluster. The public could and did use his businesses.
James Asquith’s only claim to fame, other than from the Instagram account he bought followers for, to fake fame — yes, factually — is that he was the “CEO” of Holiday Swap. Omg, so big time!
The business purports to be a home swap company, though there are no financial records of any legal merit in the West, and despite my damndest multi-year attempts, no record of actual customers. Simple use of Similar Web or review sites will help your own conclusions. You can read old blog posts for more musings. The rumors of what laundered through are scary. Maybe a real journalist can find out for us?
I actually think it’s dangerous to the public to compare these two people.
I’ve had the good fortune of meeting Richard Branson many times throughout the years and he’s always been wildly impressive. Wickedly sharp, analytical, funny and personable. It’s easy to put in a good shift for PR purposes, but I’ve observed levels of deep dive knowledge that no setup encounter can protect for — and genuine interest too. He cares about his people and he worries about the details.
I also have many people in my personal life connected to the Virgin Atlantic founder and I know of nothing but admiration and respect for the man, his company ethos and family. Business in the front, party in the back.
My only encounter with James Asquith was when he was fuming that he wasn’t invited on an airlines press trip, slid into my Instagram DM’s wanting me to blast them – and for us to be best buds as we roast a major (actual) global airline. That airline later confidentially told me he was banned from flying, due to his antics. I politely declined and he unfollowed me. It was soooo cool.
I guess if you can’t fly other airlines, you start your own?
So yeah, if you ever feel like putting your life in the hands of an airline without functioning entertainment screens, or WiFi, or regularly scheduled service, or new seats, or a mobile app, or an actual license to fly planes, definitely fly with Global. Oh, and no viable loyalty program either. Forget about earning points from daily spending and turning them into upgrades.
Those other “boring” airlines with all the bells and whistles above are clearly not ready to make travel great, with a new golden age, again.
