Experts rate chance of Glasgow-New York flights returning as one-off charter takes off

New carrier Global Airlines’ Glasgow to JFK Airport in New York flight took off just after 11.30am on Thursday - half an hour late - which is due to be followed by a return flight on Monday.

The service is being flown by charter firm Hi Fly using Global’s sole operating aircraft, an Airbus A380, amid reports that only one third of its 500 seats had been filled.

Global had more than halved its standard - “global traveller” - class return fares from £778 to £380 over the past few weeks. The airline is the second to operate the aircraft in Scotland after Emirates Airlines added the A380 to its Glasgow-Dubai route in 2019.

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Global chief executive James Asquith has said the carrier wanted to “do everything better” than other airlines, to put itself “in a different league”.

Glasgow Airport has been trying to restore a New York route since United Airlines curtailed its year-round flights to summer only in 2017 after 19 years, and axed the service at the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020. Delta Air Lines also operated summer flights on the route from 2017-19.

Since then, Edinburgh Airport has attracted up to four flights a day to New York airports on three airlines - United, Delta and JetBlue.

Aviation analyst John Strickland did not rate Glasgow’s chances of filling that gap.

He said: “I'm sceptical of the likelihood of Glasgow seeing regular flights to New York retuning. It's a challenging market very much driven by price and is very seasonal by nature - there is potential for strong summer traffic, but little in winter.”

Mr Strickland said Global could also struggle because it has only offered one return flight.

He said: “The performance of Global’s one-off charter will simply be a function of how many seats it has managed to sell. That will depend on how successful it has been to get the message out that it is operating.

“A one-off from a new airline is more difficult to promote than a regular series of flights.”

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, said: “The Glasgow-New York market is both immature, low yielding and often very seasonal.

“It doesn’t help that the new airline is using the A380, which is hardly the bastion of fuel efficiency, even if all seats are filled because many will have been heavily discounted to entice passengers.

“In addition, having the A380 loiter on the ground for days before its return flight is a pretty quick way to rack up bills, so you have to question whether any money is being made here.

“Longer term for Glasgow, its unlikely we’re going to see any influx of US airlines providing services regularly as the demand just isn’t there.”

However, Mr Asquith told US airports’ network Reach TV: “If you use the [A380] aircraft on the right route - demand-heavy sectors - it’s one of the most fantastic aircraft to use and one of the most efficient as well.”

He said Global had not filled the plane with the maximum number of seats to give passengers more comfort. “If you cram as many seats as you can on it, you are just putting more risk on it, and that’s what most airlines did,” he said.

Global originally planned to operate the aircraft with 471 seats, but there are reports this has increased to 506. Emirates has between 484 and 615 seats in its A380 aircraft.

A spokesperson for Glasgow Airport said: "We remain committed to re-establishing direct services between Glasgow and the United States in addition to our popular Tui service to Orlando.

“The demand for such a service is clear, and it continues to be a top priority.

"We are actively working with Glasgow city partners and the Scottish Government to secure a regular, reliable service that meets the needs of our passengers and supports the economic growth of our region."