Global Airlines (London City) has announced that it contracted Knighthood Global, a consultancy and investment firm led by former Etihad Aviation Group chief executive James Hogan, to "provide key strategic advice and support". The advisory company will also become a shareholder in the UK A380-800 start-up.

"Knighthood will also become a shareholder in Global and will focus on the strategy for the next chapters of building the Global business, while progressing the UK AOC application," the investment firm said.

Hogan and chief executive officer James Rigney, a former CFO of Etihad, will be appointed strategic advisers to Global Airlines.

Neither company responded to ch-aviation's request for more details regarding the size of the stake the Abu Dhabi-based consultancy will be taking, the timeline, and the terms of the partnership.

The agreement was announced as Global Airlines prepares to operate its first two return flights across the Atlantic. The start-up, which has not yet applied for a UK Operating Licence and has no AOC, plans to fly from Glasgow International to New York JFK on May 15 (with the return flight on May 19), and subsequently from Manchester to JFK on May 21 (return on May 25). All four flights will be onboard Global's owned A380-800, 9H-GLOBL (msn 120), which is operated by Hi Fly Malta. The 12.6-year-old aircraft underwent cabin refurbishment, but not full reconfiguration ahead of those flights.

While the start-up said in late March that the "VIP pre-sale reservation list had thousands of registrations", as of May 2 tickets are still available for all four flights.

US regulatory filings show that the two initial roundtrips to New York will be flown as full charters for Travelopedia, a British tour operator, operated by Hi Fly Malta.

The airline also operated demonstration flights from Barcelona El Prat to Berlin Brandenburg and onwards to London Gatwick on May 2-3.

Global Airlines, a brainchild of travel tech entrepreneur James Asquith, initially planned to begin transatlantic operations between the UK and the US in early 2024 but later pushed the date back. It has not announced when it plans to begin scheduled flights.

"Global intends to introduce further widebody aircraft in 2025 before announcing a timeline for scheduled operations. During the past year, Global has successfully inducted one A380 into service, and is now progressing with the acquisitions of further A380 aircraft scheduled for entry into service," the Knighthood Global statement said.

Global Airlines is currently owned by Ihtg Limited, which owns over 75% of the shares. That company, in turn, is controlled by Asquith, who has a majority stake but less than 75%. Other shareholders are not publicly disclosed. Ihtg Limited was formerly known as Holiday Swap Group. The website of the vacation home swapping platform is currently inactive.

Hogan led Etihad Aviation Group between 2006 and 2017, overseeing an ambitious global investment strategy that saw the holding company acquire stakes in Alitalia, Air Berlin (1991), Darwin Airline, Jet Airways (all of which have gone out of business since then), Air Serbia, and Air Seychelles (which were bought back by their respective governments). The holding lost billions of dollars on those investments, and, post-Hogan departure, Etihad Airways itself underwent restructuring and scaled-down operations. The Emirati carrier went from having over 130 aircraft in its fleet in 2017 to 105 currently.

While the consultancy does not generally disclose its contracts, Knighthood Global advised the Maltese government on the restructuring of Air Malta in 2021 and, after that airline was deemed unviable, secured a new contract to wind it down and establish successor KM Malta Airlines in 2023-24. The consultancy also advised the Estonian government regarding Nordica in 2024, which subsequently went out of business.