Hi Fly Bids Farewell to Airbus A380

(31 Oct 2021) Hi Fly has bid farewell to the Airbus A380 with the last flight, HFM380, flying from Beja to Toulouse, France on Thursday morning.

Hi Fly has operated the Airbus A380 for almost three years. The airline decided not to extend the lease period as a consequence of the ongoing global COVID19 pandemic drastically reducing demand for very large aircraft.

Hi Fly was the 4th European airline and the 14th global operator to fly the much loved aircraft, becoming also the first wet leasing airline operating an A380 and inaugurating its second hand market.

The Hi Fly A380 supported Mirpuri Foundation’s “Save the Coral Reefs” campaign and carried the message across the five continents, raising awareness of the fight to stop the destruction of our oceans. The livery was comprised of one side painted in dark blue displaying destroyed corals, contrasting with a light blue on the other side representing a pristine ocean, with images of colourful and healthy marine life.

The “Save the Coral Reefs” aircraft was a record breaker:

- It was the first A380 to connect London to New York;

- Operated the longest non-stop domestic flight in the world, from St. Denis to Paris;

- It’s marketing campaign received a double award from Global Transport Finance magazine;

- Was the first to land in Wuhan, China following the coronavirus outbreak; and

- Completed an around the world humanitarian mission which lasted four days, starting and ending in Beja, Portugal. The flight covered 31,047 km in a flight time of 33 hours and 45 minutes with stops in Tianjin and Santo Domingo.

Hi Fly’s A380 was also the first to be converted to cargo version, removing economy seats so that it could carry 68 tons and offer 340m3 of volume capacity. Plus, it could fly direct for over 17 hours.

And was the first A380 to land in

• Beja (23/07/2018)
• Oslo (2/08/2018)
• Reunion (25/08/2018)
• Diass (14/04/2019)
• Antananarivo (30/06/2019)
• Cairo (7/07/2019)
• Caracas (14/07/2019)
• Buenos Aires (23/07/2019)
• Dalaman (23/09/2019)
• Enfidha (24/09/2019)
• Las Palmas (27/09/2019)
• Santo Domingo (16/05/2020)

The aircraft has visited 53 different airports, in 33 countries and 4 continents.

1. Abidjan
2. Abu Dhabi
3. Antananarivo
4. Athens
5. Baku
6. Bangkok
7. Beja
8. Boston
9. Buenos Aires
10. Cairo
11. Cancún
12. Caracas
13. Châteauroux
14. Copenhagen
15. Dalaman
16. Diass
17. Dresden
18. Enfidha-Hammamet
19. Farnborough
20. Glasgow
21. Hamburg
22. Hanoi
23. Istanbul
24. Istres
25. Jeddah
26. Kuala Lumpur
27. Larnaca
28. Las Palmas
29. London Gatwick
30. London Stansted
31. Madrid
32. Malta
33. Manchester
34. Montréal
35. New York
36. Nice
37. Orlando
38. Oslo
39. Palma de Mallorca
40. Paris-Châlons Vatry
41. Paris-Charles de Gaulle
42. Paris-Le Bourget
43. Reunion Island
44. Rome
45. Santo Domingo
46. Seoul
47. Shangai
48. Singapore
49. Stockholm
50. Tarbes
51. Tianjin
52. Toulouse
53. Wuhan

Of the 15 current A380 operators in the world, Hi Fly was the first airline in Europe and second worldwide in number of landing destinations. This accomplishment was achieved in only two years.

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