Throughout the pandemic, flypop has partnered with Hi Fly, utilizing flypop’s aircraft for cargo operations. The carriers have now expanded their collaboration with a new partnership agreement that includes passenger flights from the UK.
On Tuesday (June 28, 2022), flypop announced an expansion of their existing cargo partnership with Hi Fly to include passenger flights out of the United Kingdom. Throughout the pandemic, the two companies have partnered by utilizing flypop’s aircraft for cargo operations. In the coming weeks, flypop will add aircraft to the joint venture that will be operated by Hi Fly.
In Tuesday’s announcment, flypop’s Founder and CEO, Navdip ‘Nino’ Singh Judge, said,
“We expect a surge in demand in and out of our home market over the coming months and we look forward to serving our customers with the newly formed joint venture. We are in active discussions with several parties to grow the fleet further in the near future and look forward to welcoming these aircraft to the joint venture.”
Speaking from Hi Fly’s Corporate Headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, the carrier’s President, Paulo Mirpuri, added,
“We are looking forward to operating flypop’s aircraft out of the UK. Hi Fly’s leading expertise in Airbus widebody aircraft will prove to be a winning recipe for the joint venture.”
Hi Fly is a leading global widebody aircraft wet-lease specialist. The company operates an all Airbus fleet, including Airbus A330s, and offers leases and ACMI (aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance) services on medium or long-term contracts for airlines, tour operators, governments and other customers.
Commencing operations in October 2021, flypop’s history started back in 2003 when (Nino) Navdip Singh Judge became frustrated by the high cost and lack of direct flights to visit his family in Ludhiana, India. However, at that time the air services agreement between the UK and India made it impossible to obtain slots at Heathrow, or even gain permission to fly to India’s “second cities.” A decade later, the environment had changed, and the dream was revived when a new service between the two countries allowed for certain number of weekly flights to India’s second cities. After working with Air Asia Group’s CEO, Tony Fernandes, for five years at the Lotus F1 Team, Nino realized that the Air Asia X business model for low-cost long haul flights was ideally suited for flights between Europe and South Asia. Flypop’s goal is to provide an affordable and convenient option for nearly three million UK nationals of the Indian diaspora, who want to visit friends and families in India.
Source: flypop, through BREITFLYTE