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Hi Fly Malta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the Maltese charter airline. For its Portuguese parent company, see Hi Fly (airline).
Hi Fly Malta
IATA ICAO Callsign
3L HFM MOONRAKER
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
AOC #MT-24
Operating basesMalta International Airport
Fleet size11
Parent companyHi Fly
HeadquartersSkyparks Business Centre[broken anchor], Malta International Airport
Websitehifly.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

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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

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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

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A Hi Fly Malta Airbus A340-300
Hi Fly Malta's former only Airbus A380-800 with the "Save the Coral Reef" livery

Current fleet

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As of May 2024, Hi Fly Malta operates the following aircraft:[12][13][14]

Hi Fly Malta fleet
Aircraft In service Orders Passengers Notes
F C W Y Total
Airbus A319-100 1 — – – – 150 150
Airbus A330-200 4 — – 18 36 214 268
– 14 31 267 314
Airbus A330-300 2 — – 46 – 203 249
– – – 436 436
Airbus A340-300 4 — 12 42 – 213 267
– 36 – 218 254
– 24 – 267 291
Total 11 —

Former fleet

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Hi Fly Malta formerly also operated the following aircraft types:[14]

Hi Fly Malta former fleet
Aircraft Introduced Retired Notes
Airbus A321-200 2019 2021
Airbus A330-900 2019 2022
Airbus A340-600 2013 2015
Airbus A380-800 2018 2020

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Hi Fly-ers head to Malta". Times of Malta. 25 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Hi Fly apply for Air Operator Certificate - The Malta Independent". www.independent.com.mt.
  3. ^ Mahan Air notice at airliners.de (in German)
  4. ^ 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)
  5. ^ 9H-MIP Hi Fly Malta Airbus A380-800, https://www.planespotters.net/airframe/airbus-a380-800-9h-mip-hi-fly-malta/ek8yve
  6. ^ "New Turn the Tide on Plastic aircraft". Mirpuri Foundation. 20 October 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  7. ^ "Portuguese Hi Fly acquires two used Airbus A380". www.airlive.net. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  8. ^ "PICTURES: Colourful Hi Fly A380 makes Farnborough bow". FLIGHTGLOBAL. 19 July 2018.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ hifly.aero - A380 Farewell Flight 17 December 2020
  11. ^ "Airliner lost brazilian license". 10 February 2022.
  12. ^ "fleet". hifly.aero. Retrieved 22 September 2017.
  13. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World. October 2019: 20.
  14. ^ a b "Hi Fly Malta Fleet Details and History". www.planespotters.net. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
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