Hi Fly operated their last A380 flight and I was the only passenger invited onboard this special farewell flight. We departed Beja, Portugal for Toulouse. Immediately after take-off, the A380 performed several fly-bys to bid farewell to her base and the crowd. The A380 flew at very low speed along with high-speed fly-bys and pulled some "Gs" like she was performing at an air show.
Then we proceed to the Atlantic Ocean to draw a "heart shape" flight path to say thank you to the A380 before proceeding to Toulouse, France, where she was built 14 years ago. I toured the empty cabin on both the upper deck and the lower deck. The crew served a light lunch before landing. The CEO of Hi Fly, Paulo Mirpuri, explained the meaning behind the special paint "Save the Coral Reef".
The weather improved upon arrival at Toulouse, so we flew over the airfield to salute the A380 before a final stop landing. Farewell Hi Fly A380 "Save the Coral Reef".
The Hi Fly A380 was significant, according to Captain Carlos Mirpuri, due to the nature of her charter, the Hi Fly A380 flew to many airports that had never received an A380 before.
It was the first to land in Wuhan, China, following the coronavirus outbreak to repatriate European citizens. Recently, it completed a round the world humanitarian mission, which lasted four days, starting and ending in Beja, Portugal. It covered 31,047 kms in a flight time of 33 hours and 45 minutes, with stops in Tianjin and Santo Domingo.
And it was the first A380 to land in:
• Beja (23/07/2018)
• Oslo (2/08/2018)
• Reunion (25/08/2018)
• Diass (14/04/2019)
• Antananarivo (30/06/2019)
• Cairo (7/07/2019)
• Caracas (14/07/2019)
• Buenos Aires (23/07/2019)
• Dalaman (23/09/2019)
• Enfidha (24/09/2019)
• Las Palmas (27/09/2019)
• Santo Domingo (16/05/2020)
For more information about Hi Fly A380 and the retirement, visit my blog (trip report):
samchui.com/2020/12/18/onboar...
Thanks to French Spotter providing the external fly-by footage from Toulouse:
/ airplanevideosfly
25 дек 2020
