Cyprus minister grounds Ajet, airline says will go on

Cyprus Transport Minister Haris Thrassou ordered the grounding of Ajet, the privately-owned airline previously known as Helios that left 189 passengers destined for Birmingham stranded at Larnaca airport, while the airline has chartered other aircraft to complete its flights.

The airline announced a while ago that it would suspend its operations within the next three months, but said on Monday that all operations would cease immediately.

But the minister’s order, that comes 15 months after the Grammatikos crash that killed 121 people despite a public outcry for the airline’s earlier grounding or the minister’s resignation, was unrelated to the August 14 disaster.

The bone of contention seems to be outstanding tax dues owed to the government and the company issued an announcement condemning the government’s commando-like raid when the airport chief executive forced the Gatwick flight to a halt by placing a vehicle in front of it.

Thrassou said that he would seek a court restraining order against Ajet some time Thursday, while in comments on public radio, Attorney General Petros Clerides supported the minister’s decision.

The stranded passengers were eventually flown out on board a Eurocypria aircraft, while Ajet was reportedly chartering aircraft from Egypt to complete its final flights to Bulgaria and Romania.

The airline’s Athens flight was suspended after last summer’s crash, with the company claiming that it was dealt a financial blow by the negative publicity.

Ajet has no assets as it leases the fleet of three Boeing 737-300s it operates.

Earlier reports suggested that Ajet  would move its operations to Britain where it maintains a multi-million pound bond with the UK Civil Aviation Authority.

This caused a new uproar among the public and in particular the relatives of the crash victims who feared that the company would flee the country and its obligations.

Ajet’s lawyers have since reiterated that the company may cease its flight operations but continues to remain an active company and has no intention to shut down or dissolve as it has certain obligations with regard to last summer’s crash near Athens.

The Greek Air Accidents Investigation Committee, headed by Akrivos Tsolakis, concluded its findings in the air crash, basically blaming all parties (the airline, the manufacturer, the Cyprus aviation authorities) for various levels of mismanagement or incompetence that led to the disaster.

Another inquiry is already underway in Cyprus.