The only Airbus A380 available for wet lease renting is offered by HiFly
HiFly is a Portuguese company specialized in renting aircraft on a wet lease basis. The wet lease basically means that the renter is offering besides the aircraft also the staff to operate the aircraft (both pilots and cabin crew) and also other important parts such as insurance and type ratings for the aircraft.
The company is operating a fleet of 5 aircraft, an all Airbus fleet. They are known in the world as the only company that is offering an Airbus A380 in wet-lease.
HiFly’s A380 was bought after Singapore Airlines terminated their leasing contract for the aircraft, after being in their fleet for 10 years. While not making a direct order at Airbus, they became the 14th operator of the superjumbo that can carry up to 800 passengers.
This aircraft its the sole A380 that you can rent on a wet lease basis.
However, despite having a larger capacity, the HiFly’s A380 is configured in a 3-class configuration that can handle up to 471 passengers.
It was up to this moment operated in emergency situations when Norwegian got various issues such as engine inspections for their B787 fleet or London Gatwick drone-closures. The airline operated also with the A380 flights for leisure airline Thomas Cook or French-based Air Austral.
HiFly’s A380 comes with business and first class
When they bought the A380 HiFly did not change the interior of the aircraft. This means that the A380 remained with the Singapore Airlines seating configuration..and the best part it is that it remained with their seats. So basically you have a three-class airplane featuring both economy and business and first class.
That’s why the HiFly’s A380 has a very comfortable seating arrangement with only 471 seats on a two-deck airplane. There are 12 First class suites and 60 business class lie-flat seats.
HiFly’s A380 its the 6th-build A380 and the third one to be delivered to an airline. The aircraft is powered by four Rolls Royce Trent 970-84 engines.
The A380 has a length of 72,7 meters, a height of 24 meters and a wingspan of 79,6 meters.
Operation of this aircraft since it is in revenue service for HiFly was not without incidents. In September 2018, the aircraft hit a jet bridge in Paris with one of its engines and after that spent some time in maintenance at Toulouse, the home of Airbus.