Today we share the sad news of the passing of our Chairman and co-founder, Dr Paulo Mirpuri (1966-2026).
More than a visionary leader, he was an inspiring and deeply respected person who left a lasting mark on everyone who had the privilege to work with him. Known for his calm, his ability to listen, and his trust in people, he led with humanity, integrity and purpose.
Through his vision and determination, he built and grew the Group into the strong and trusted aviation partner it is today. His legacy lives on in the companies, in its people, and in the path ahead.
Over the past months, due to illness, leadership responsibilities were assumed by Vice Chairman and co-founder Carlos Mirpuri, who will continue to lead the Group with stability, ensuring it remains strong, resilient and firmly on course.
The Group continues to operate with full continuity, maintaining its commitment to safety, reliability and excellence in service, with confidence in the future.
We honor his memory by carrying forward his vision with the same determination and sense of purpose.
Professional Life (Short Version)
Paulo Mirpuri was an Aviation Entrepreneur, Medical Doctor, Sailor, Adventurer and Philanthropist, founder and the first President of the Mirpuri Foundation.
His Aviation career started 39 years ago, in 1987, at the age of 21 years old. While still studying medicine at the University of Lisbon (Nova) he presented to his father Arjan Mirpuri, founder and owner of the Mirpuri Group, the opportunity to convert the corporate flight department that served de Family personal and business travel needs, from a cost center into a profit center. In less than a year after obtaining his father’s blessing, Paulo incorporated his first Company, Air Luxor, obtained the License and Air Operator Certificate and signed the first contracts using the two family aircraft, a Cessna 206 and an Aero Commander 500S. The Company grew significantly over the years, evolving from a Business Aviation Company to become the second largest schedule airline in Portugal (after the Legacy Carrier TAP Portugal), and operating worldwide with an all Airbus fleet (Airbus A320’s and A330’s). This schedule airline was sold in early 2006 to a Luso Canadian investor, allowing Paulo to concentrate his time and resources in a new venture, Hi Fly, founded by himself in 2005 and operating on a completely different market segment (Business to Consumer), providing capacity (aircraft) to airline and governments on the Global stage. Hi Fly grew significantly over the years to become the largest capacity provider (wet lease) of Airbus widebody aircraft, to over 200 airlines and Governments all over the world. Paulo Mirpuri, besides the Founder of Hi Fly was still its current Chairman. Hi Fly operates or has operated most of the Airbus models, including the Airbus models A310, A319, A320, A321, A330, A340 and A380, the later being the largest passenger commercial aircraft in the world.
The roots of Paulo Mirpuri came from Business Aviation, where he also developed several high profile successful projects, including Masterjet (now part of the Luxaviation Group) and NetJets Europe. Masterjet, a business aircraft management company and NetJets, a fractional ownership program. NetJets Europe, where Paulo Mirpuri at inception was the President and major shareholder (51%), was created in 1996 with three business jets (Citation SII’s) and by the time it was sold to Berkshire Hathaway 10 years later, it was the largest business jet operator in Europe, operating over 100 aircraft, including Citations, Falcons and Gulfstreams all received new from factory.
Along the almost 40 years of his career, Paulo Mirpuri also founded and developed several other successful aviation support Companies, including MESA- Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering, LSKY- Inflight Catering, SGAB-Airport Development and Management and SafePort- Aircraft and Passenger Handling.
