Airline at Center of Brazil Fiasco Key to Trump’s Deportations

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(Bloomberg) — A young charter airline at the center of a backlash over mechanical issues is a key player in Donald Trump’s plan to deport millions of migrants. 

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Global Crossing Airlines Group Inc., known as Global X Air, is among the handful of contractors used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport foreign migrants. Its fleet of 18 Airbus planes, including the A319 and 320, have been spotted unloading deportees in Guatemala and Honduras — but it was a flight to Brazil on Jan. 24 that sparked a regional debate over the conditions migrants are transported in. 

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The Airbus A320 experienced technical issues and aborted takeoffs before chaos ensued while on the tarmac in the Amazon rain forest. Passengers interviewed by Bloomberg described how the air conditioning was broken, resulting in people fainting in the extreme heat. Eventually, the shackled deportees opened two emergency exits and shouted for help until Brazilian police escorted them off the flight. 

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered the Brazilian Air Force to take them to their final destinations, and criticized Global X Air for the conditions. It was that very flight that also led to Colombia President Gustavo Petro’s brief spat with Trump, though the airline dropped off deportees in Bogotá just a few days later. 

Cheila Souza, 44, a teacher from the western Amazon state of Rondonia, was one of the nearly 90 deportees on the flight. She said the plane showed problems even before take-off from Louisiana at roughly 4 a.m., describing how a mechanic struggled for hours to turn on the engine. 

“Eventually it started, and the rest of us, who were busy praying, thanked God it eventually started,” she said. The crew again struggled to restart the plane after a refueling stop in Panama, leaving those on the aircraft sweating in the Caribbean heat. 

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Once the plane was in the air again, Souza said it was flying crooked, “hanging to one to side. We prayed to God to have mercy.”

Brazilian officials complained of “degrading treatment” and “disrespect for human rights.” The foreign ministry said the government and the US embassy in Brazil agreed to monitor future flights in real time going forward. 

Global X said the firm does not comment on charter clients as a matter of company policy. 

Miami-based Global X Air began commercial operations in 2021, flying in the US and to Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to being contracted by the US government, including NASA and the Department of Defense, its clients include US professional and collegiate sports teams including Ohio State and Rutgers University, according to its fillings. It also operates a cargo business.

The company’s stock has risen 39% since Trump took office, closing at 73 cents on Friday, up 49% from before the inauguration. 

Global X is led by Executive Chairman Chris Jamroz, a logistics executive who also serves as governor of Canada’s largest museum, and President and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Goepel, former CFO of low-cost Canadian carrier Flair Airlines who also served as a finance director for Burger King. The airline boasts “the highest standards of quality and reliability” and aims to become the largest charter airline in the US. It is planning to nearly double its fleet size by 2026 and forecast 40% growth in revenues for 2024 to $224 million, according to its investor presentation.

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It has yet to turn a profit and reported a net loss of $21 million in 2023. It received several comment letters from the SEC over accounting issues in 2023, which the firm has addressed, according to records.

Jamroz said in a third quarter conference call the airline has seen improved profitability on a per aircraft, per hour basis, but also experienced “unforeseen maintenance challenges” in September caused by “severe weather, multiple bird strikes and damage from a third party vendor.”

The issues sidelined five of its passenger jets, but four returned to service by early October, Jamroz said. “It is absolutely unprecedented that an airline would have effectively lost more than a third of its fleet in a single month,” he said.

Former airline executive and industry consultant Robert Mann said higher utilization of aircrafts and the addition of an big customer like ICE can add pressure on smaller airlines. Charter airlines typically use third-party contractors to conduct maintenance, and small airlines might not be their top priority, he said. 

“It’s not surprising that a small airline has these sorts of problems when it’s stretched thin and when it takes on a very high tempo client,” he said. “It’s also highly undesirable and it can obviously consume quite a bit of management’s attention span when it would prefer to be doing other things.” 

About half of Global X’s fleet will be dedicated to recently signed government contracts, according the company’s investor presentation. 

Third quarter revenue growth was partly driven by fleet expansion and “further growth in a key government agency relationship,” Goepel said. 

—With assistance from Andrew Rosati and Simone Iglesias.

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