The British carrier start-up Global Airlines has officially taken full ownership of its first Airbus A380.

The Airbus A380, MSN 120, was de-registered in the United States (US) and re-registered in Malta on February 2, 2024.

The company posted a photo of the registration certificate on social media and confirmed the former China Southern aircraft will fly under 9H-GLOBL.

The aircraft last flew on December 22, 2022, and for the last 13 months has been based in the Mojave Airport (MHV), California, where expert teams have taken care of it.

Business Class Aviation (BCA), with support from HiFly, have carried out extensive work on the aircraft to ensure it is in perfect condition before it takes its first flight under Global Airlines.

Global Airlines CEO James Asquith celebrated the news and took a swipe at critics who have said that the carrier will never get off the ground.

“Purchasing an aircraft takes a phenomenal amount of time, and over the past year, we, with support from partners, have been putting the building blocks in place to take full ownership of the aircraft and plan its first flight. Lots of people predicted we wouldn’t make it even this far, and I couldn’t be happier to be giving MSN 120 a second lease of life,” Asquith said.

He added: “The fact that after such a rigorous inspection from BCA and Hi Fly, the aircraft was found to be in such good condition is testament not only to our unwavering commitment to safety, but to the engineering excellence of Airbus.”

Global Airlines worked with aviation firm Jet Midwest to seal the agreement to acquire the A380.

Read the full story originally published on aerotime.aero