Thrasou blocks ajet maiden flight

Communications Minister Haris Thrasou ordered the Civil Aviation Department to block the maiden flight of ajet, which has taken over the operations and aircraft of Helios Airways.

“At 9.15am Friday morning, the Civil Aviation called Libra, the mother company of ajet and Helios to inform that their planned flight to Rhodes would not be allowed.”

Libra had earlier announced that it has completed the handover of operations from Helios to ajet and was waiting for the final permit from the authorities to start charter flights and limited scheduled flights.

Libra explained that following the accident of an Helios Airways flight bound for Athens last August that crashed into mountainside just north of the Greek capital killing all 121 passengers and crew members on board, it wanted to start ajet, but promised that it would also maintain Helios.

Thrasou said ajet would need to wait for an opinion from the Attorney General on whether the change is feasible. Until then, Helios cannot change it name, Thrasou said.

The Director of the Civil Aviation Department Leonidas Leonidou supported Thrasou’s comments, adding that a plane under the name ajet had requested to take off from Cyprus recently but was refused permission from the Civil Aviation.

“They are allowed to plan flights but it was one thing to plan flights and another thing to actually execute flights. In this case, the plane did not have the necessary credentials and was not allowed to leave.”