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| Founded | 2013 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AOC # | MT-24 | ||||||
| Operating bases | Malta International Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 11 | ||||||
| Parent company | Hi Fly | ||||||
| Headquarters | Skyparks Business Centre, Malta International Airport | ||||||
| Website | hifly.aero | ||||||
Hi Fly Malta is a Maltese charter airline based at Malta International Airport and a subsidiary of the Portuguese charter airline Hi Fly.
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, 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. [5] [6] 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. [7] 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. [8] 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. [9]
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. [10]
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.
As of April 2024, the Hi Fly Malta fleet consists of the following aircraft: [11] [12] [13]
| 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 | — | ||||||
Hi Fly Malta formerly also operated the following aircraft types: [13]
| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A321-200 | 2019 | 2021 | |
| Airbus A330-900 | 2019 | 2022 | |
| Airbus A340-600 | 2013 | 2015 | |
| Airbus A380-800 | 2018 | 2020 | |
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Media related to Hi Fly Malta at Wikimedia Commons
