This article really relates to the continuing saga of the rebranding of Helios, the thread for which I cannot find !!
Therefore, it is being posted here and is an update on the name change fracas as reported by the Cyprus Mail today:
Relatives’ fury at ajet licence
By Elias Hazou
AJET, the successor airline to disaster-stricken Helios Airways, yesterday got the thumbs-up to start flights, even as relatives of the air crash victims vowed to take action against the government within the EU.
Back in March ajet had applied to Civil Aviation for a licence and has since been using the assets and flight code of Helios. The company had also applied for an Air Operator’s Licence to operate as a charter airline.
Helios says it had long contemplated changing its business model and denied this was a ploy to evade justice. And it cited corporate law, according to which ultimately, any liability claims are guaranteed by Helios’ insurers.
In the meantime, Helios’ planes have been flying under the ajet livery but with the Helios ZU flight codes; even more confusingly, Helios as a business entity has been stricken from the records of the Registrar of Companies.
But the families and friends of the people who perished aboard flight ZU522 last August are outraged that the airline should change its name and image – let alone operate – while the jury is still out on whether the company was responsible for the disaster.
Their lawyer has also argued that, according to ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) regulations, an airline with a crash record must undergo all technical and security inspections from scratch, and that clearly this was not done in the case of Helios.
With feelings of bitterness still running high, Civil Aviation yesterday announced that it had okayed the issuing of an air operator’s licence to ajet.
The department’s head Leonidas Leonidou told state radio that the department would be making a “favourable recommendation” to the Transport Ministry for the licence.
Their decision was based on the legal opinion of the Attorney-general, he added.
According to Leonidou, it was perfectly normal for an airline to fly with certificates under a different name.
“The company is in a transitional phase, it is in the process of acquiring its own licences. Therefore, as far as we have been told, there is no legal hindrance as to issuing an air operator’s licence for ajet.”
However, the new company also needs a commercial licence before starting up its charter operations.
Leonidou said he expected an independent committee to award ajet the commercial licence “very soon.”
The news was met with strong reaction from Nicolas Yiasoumi, head of the committee representing the bereaved relatives.
Yiasoumi reiterated the accusation that Civil Aviation had demonstrated “excessive zeal” in expediting the processing of ajet’s application for a licence.
“Even the Transport Minister has admitted as much,” he said.
“Either Civil Aviation does not know what it’s doing, or they don’t want to admit they don’t know.”
The relatives had sent Transport Minister Harris Thrasou a letter demanding that any actions enabling Helios to fly – under any name or guise – be stopped in its tracks. Unless they received a response by yesterday, they had threatened to report the government to EU organs.
The latent charge is that the Cyprus government is not adhering to international aviation rules.
“We are sticking to this deadline,” affirmed Yiasoumi.
“Today we shall be meeting with our lawyers and proceed with filing the report.”
The inquiry into the causes of the disaster, due out in early summer, is likely to find fault with all the involved agencies, including Civil Aviation and Helios.
While not naming names, the probe will implicitly point the finger at people or procedures through an exhaustive account of activities and omissions, both on the ground as well as in the air on the fateful day.
The report is to be scrutinised by an independent, government-appointed commission that will then decide whether criminal proceedings are necessary.
Press reports yesterday said the probe was more or less ready, but first needed to be translated into Greek, as it has been written in English, the official language of the aviation industry.
Anticipation of the report’s release has heightened anxiety among relatives and rekindled painful memories of their loss, especially following a memorial service this weekend marking nine months since the disaster.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006