Hi Fly (legally ''Springjet, S.A.'')
is a
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
charter airline
Air charter is the business of renting an entire aircraft (i.e., chartering) as opposed to individual aircraft seats (i.e., purchasing a ticket through a traditional airline).
Regulation
Charter – also called air taxi or ad hoc – flights ...
headquartered in
Lisbon.
History
The airline was incorporated in October 2005 and concluded its initial certification process in April 2006, when it was issued with an Air Operator Certificate by the Portugal civil aviation authority,
ANAC.
Since obtaining its Air Operator Certificate, the carrier has gained all the statutory EU-OPS (regulations specifying minimum safety and related procedures for commercial passenger and cargo fixed-wing aviation) and European Union Safety Agency (
EASA
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitori ...
) approvals. It also obtained the
IATA Operational Safety Audit (
IOSA
The IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) programme is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. IOSA uses internationally recognised quality audit ...
) certification in September 2011.
Hi Fly's first aircraft was an
Airbus A330-300
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A34 ...
which had previously been operated by
Air Luxor (which was owned by the same family that now owns Hi Fly before being sold and shut down). The aircraft was recently on contract to the
Air Component
The Belgian Air Component ( nl, Luchtcomponent, french: Composante air) is the air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force ( nl, Belgische Luchtmacht; french: Force aérienne bel ...
of the
Belgian Armed Forces
The Belgian Defense Forces ( nl, Defensie; french: La Défense) is the national military of Belgium. The King of the Belgians is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces. The Belgian Armed Forces was established after Belgium became independ ...
until the end of 2013. Two
A310-300s were then added in 2008 and these were leased to
Oman Air
Oman Air ( ar, الطيران العماني) is the national airline of the Sultanate of Oman. Based at Muscat International Airport in Seeb, Muscat, it operates domestic and international passenger services, as well as regional air taxi and ch ...
flying the carrier's first long-haul routes (to
London Heathrow
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...
and Bangkok).
New aircraft were then delivered from Airbus in 2008 and 2009: an
A330-200 and two
A340-500
The Airbus A340 is a long-haul, long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus.
In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the Airbus A300, A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 qu ...
s, the latter used for approximately 5 years on behalf of
Arik Air
Arik Air is a Nigerian airline operating mainly from two hubs at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Arik Air's head office is the ''Arik Air Aviation Center'' on the grounds of Mu ...
in Nigeria on its route between Lagos and
New York John F. Kennedy, painted in its colors, until Hi Fly repossessed the airframes in spring 2015. Since then, more
A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
s and
A340s have also been obtained, including four in 2013. In February 2014, Hi Fly added its first narrow-body aircraft, an
A321-200 that has been leased to the Belgian Army in replacement of the former A330-300.
At the start of March 2013,
Hi Fly Malta was created as Hi Fly's
Maltese subsidiary operating a fleet of
Airbus A340-600
The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus.
In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel wi ...
s; that division now houses a pair of A340-300s.
Hi Fly's head office is located in
Lisbon's city centre. Inside are all the corporate offices plus departments for flight and ground operations, engineering and maintenance, safety, security, commercial, finance and administration, as well as quality control. There are also training classrooms for flight and cabin crews. At
Lisbon Airport
Humberto Delgado Airport , informally Lisbon Airport and formally Portela Airport, is an international airport located northeast of the city centre of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. The airport is the main international gateway to Portuga ...
there is a maintenance hangar operated by MESA, a group subsidiary.
In May 2015, Saudi-Arabian airline
Saudia immediately terminated a long-term leasing contract with Hi Fly over two
Airbus A330
The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus.
Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
s, after one of them was seen at
Ben Gurion Airport in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
wearing the full Saudia livery. According to Israeli media reports, the A330 was undergoing routine maintenance with Israel Aerospace Industries' MRO wing Bedek as per its contract with Hi Fly. However, Arab News reported that even though the aircraft was not operating a commercial service for Saudia at the time, the Saudis claimed that Hi Fly had violated the terms of its contract by sending the jet to a country with which Saudi Arabia has no official diplomatic ties. Hi Fly subsequently returned the aircraft to its lessor along with its remaining A330-300.
Hi Fly is testing serving passengers with compostable materials in the food and drink service rather than
single-use
A disposable (also called disposable product) is a product designed for a single use after which it is recycled or is disposed as solid waste. The term is also sometimes used for products that may last several months (e.g. disposable air filte ...
plastic. A flight in December 2018 was the first ever without single-use cups, cutlery and containers.
On 29 June 2019, a Hi Fly airlines A340 returning to Orlando Airport dumped its fuel on over 84% of the airport's runway. The plane had been suffering hydraulic issues and was forced to return. It was not clear why the pilot dumped the fuel on the runway.
On 2 November 2021, Hi Fly Flight 801 landed the first Airbus A340 on Antarctic blue glacial ice after a flight from Cape Town, South Africa to
Wolf’s Fang Runway, Antarctica.
Destinations
Hi Fly has no scheduled destinations. It specialises in worldwide
aircraft lease
Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...
s and
ACMI services on medium to long term contracts for airlines, tour operators, governments, companies and individuals.
Fleet
Current
As of April 2022, the Hi Fly fleet – excluding its subsidiary
Hi Fly Malta – consists of the following aircraft:
[planespotters.net - Hi Fly](_blank)
retrieved 16 February 2019
Former
Hi Fly has operated the following types of aircraft in the past:
See also
*
List of airlines of Portugal
This is a list of national airlines currently operating in Portugal.
Scheduled airlines
Charter airlines
See also
* List of defunct airlines of Portugal
* List of airlines
* List of airports in Portugal
References
{{Reflist
Airlines ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hi Fly (Airline)
Airlines of Portugal
Airlines established in 2005
Companies based in Lisbon