Hi Fly (airline)

Hi Fly

IATA ICAO Callsign 5K HFY SKY FLYER
Founded	2006
Operating bases	Lisbon Airport
Fleet size	12
Headquarters	Lisbon, Portugal
Key people	Paulo Mirpuri, President Carlos Mirpuri, Vice-President
Website	hifly.aero

Hi Fly is a Portuguese charter airline headquartered in Lisbon and based at Lisbon Airport.

History

The airline was incorporated in 2005 and concluded the initial certification process in April 2006, when it was issued with an Air Operator Certificate by the Portugal civil aviation authority, INAC. Since obtaining its Air Operator's 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), Federal Aviation Administration Safety Agency (EASA) approvals. It also obtained the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certification in September 2011.

At the start, the first aircraft was an Airbus A330-300 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), which was recently on contract to the Air Component of the Belgian Armed Forces until the end of 2013. Two A310-300s were then added in 2008 and these were leased to Oman Air flying the carrier's first long-haul routes (to London/Heathrow and Bangkok). New aircraft were then delivered from Airbus in 2008 and 2009 in the shape of an A330-200 and two A340-500s - the latter used for approximately 5 years on behalf of Arik Air 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 A330s 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 A340-600s.

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, administration as well as quality control. There are also training classrooms for flight and cabin crews. At Lisbon Airport, 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 A330s after one of them had been transferred to Ben Gurion Airport in Israel for scheduled maintenance wearing the full Saudia livery. Saudia hadn't approved the maintenance in Israel and stated that the work should have been done in a state Saudia-Arabia maintains diplomatic relations with.

Destinations

Hi Fly has specialised in the worldwide aircraft lease and ACMI services on medium to long term contracts for airlines, tour operators, governments, companies and individuals. It is certified to fly to Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Mexico, India and elsewhere.

Fleet

A Hi Fly Airbus A330-200 on final approach to Faro Airport in Portugal in April 2011.

A Hi Fly Airbus A340-500 landing on a runway at JFK Airport in the United States in January 2016.

As of April 2016, the Hi Fly fleet consists of the following aircraft :

Hi Fly Fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Passengers
		F	J	Y	Total	Notes
Airbus A321-200	1	—	—	219	219	—
Airbus A330-200	3	—	31	267	298	—
		—	24	242	266	—
		—	42	288	330	—
Airbus A330-300	2	—	42	221	263	—
		—	—	387	387	—
Airbus A340-300	4	10	30	225	265	—
		12	42	213	267	—
Airbus A340-500	2	—	36	201	237	—
Total	12

External links

Media related to Hi Fly at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website