A British businessman wants to bring back the golden age of air travel with a new luxury airline and the biggest planes in the world – but naysayers doubt he can pull it off.
James Asquith, 36, founded Global Airlines last year by buying four Airbus 380 planes, which boast 5,500 square feet of cabin space. He had hoped to start his first flights this year from London’s Gatwick Airport to L.A. and New York, according to a 2023 profile of him in the Times of London. But he’s now shooting for the first quarter of 2025, reports the lifestyle magazine Robb Report.
What Asquith lacks in industry experience, he makes up in big dreams, according to media profiles. The son of a commercial airline pilot, the former investment banker grew up dreaming of owning his own airline – and, at age 8, begging flight attendants to help serve customers, per the Times. An obsessive traveller – you can check out his Instagram posts about visiting all 196 sovereign countries – he aims to put the fun back in air travel with roomier seats for all, communal areas and limos taking first-class passengers to and from the airport.
“The check-in queues will be short, the glasses of champagne will be tall and the service will be as bright and enthusiastic as it was when he was eight and handing out the meals himself,” according to the Times.
“What’s coming down the aisle food-and-beverage-wise will also be incredible,” Asquith told Robb Report.
Asquith tells interviewers that he believes airlines have become cynical with a race to the bottom in price leading to constant quality-cutting. This has created room for an airline that will stand out with its white-glove treatment of passengers.
But a major problem with the plan is simple logistics. The giant 360s are “limited in where they can go,” CBS travel editor Peter Greenberg told Robb Report. “And in order to be profitable, the aircraft has to be 80 percent full all of the time.”
But Asquith seems undeterred, noting that in the US alone, JFK, Houston, D.C. and San Francisco can park the plane.
Could a young man with a dream and four planes bring back the glamour era of air travel? Stay tuned because we’ll be following this one!
