Global Airlines was ordered into liquidation by the High Court in London on Nov. 4, 2026, ending the startup’s brief attempt to fly an Airbus A380. The Official Receiver took control the same day, and the company’s directors lost control once the winding-up order was made.
London court order on Nov. 4
Nov. 4, 2026 was the decisive step because a winding-up order is the UK equivalent of liquidation. For Global Airlines and its creditors, that meant the process moved from a petition on May 29, 2026 into compulsory liquidation, with the liquidator taking over the company, investigating its affairs and the conduct of its directors, and collecting any remaining assets for creditors.
Global Airlines Ltd had already been dormant in operational terms. The airline had not flown since its brief run of flights in spring 2025, when it operated two round trips between Europe and New York.
James Asquith and the pause
James Asquith said delays in heavy maintenance caused the long pause. The Airbus A380 then went into long-term storage, and the maintenance work was said to cost millions of dollars.
That left the startup with a gap between ambition and execution. The spring 2025 flights were run by Portuguese charter airline Hi-Fly under a wet lease because Global Airlines did not have its own operating certificate, which meant the carrier depended on another airline’s aircraft and approval structure from the start.
Asquith had recently suggested flights to the Maldives before the end of 2026, but no progress was reported before the liquidation order. The notice published by The Gazette now shifts attention from expansion plans to the liquidation itself, and to what the Official Receiver can recover for creditors from whatever remains of Global Airlines’ assets.
The open issue is practical rather than promotional: whether any creditor claims have been filed, and how much of Global Airlines’ remaining assets will be available, has not been answered. For creditors, the order gives them a liquidator and a legal process; for the company, it ends director control and puts the remaining value, if any, under formal administration.
