Here's a bit of news on the latest situation with the rebranding, courtesy of the Cyprus Mail Internet edition.
Probe into ajet test flight
By Jean Christou
TRANSPORT Minister Haris Thrasou has ordered a disciplinary probe into how ajet Aviation, formerly Helios Airways believed it had received permission from Civil Aviation to carry out a test flight last March before approval of a name change.
Speaking at Larnaca Airport yesterday on his way to Athens for a shipping conference, Thrasou said that the disciplinary enquiry would focus on two senior Civil Aviation officials.
He said that the incident had been investigated by Makis Constantinides, the permanent secretary of his ministry and found cause to seek the advice of the Attorney-general.
"We sent the conclusions of the administrative investigation to the public prosecutor and following his opinion I have ordered a disciplinary probe against two senior officials from the Civil Aviation Department,” said Thrasou.
He said the probe would focus on the procedures that were followed when the ajet application for a charter licence was being examined by the department.
In March news broke that ajet had secured permission to carry out a “proving flight,” a necessary step to establishing the airworthiness of an airline before being granted a licence. Civil Aviation permission is needed for such test flight.
If the test flight had gone ahead, ajet would have received an AOC (Air Operator’s Licence). But to commence actual operations, it would then also need a commercial license.
The flight had been scheduled for Thursday March 16, but just two days earlier ajet received word from civil aviation that their request for the test flight was denied. According to ajet, the Civil Aviation did not explain why, with one official telling the company the flight was cancelled “for other reasons he could not disclose.”
That development immediately followed the media coverage of ajet’s intended launch, raising suspicion that authorities – who up until then had been in cahoots with the airline – were now covering their tracks because of the public backlash.
Thrasou stepped in and cancelled the flight at the last minute.
Documents showed that civil aviation approved the test flight as far back as March 7 but had only sought the advice of the Attorney-general on March 9, after the date of the originally scheduled test flight.
Ultimately and amid fierce controversy ajet withdrew its application for a new licence and instead Helios sought, and recently received permission for a name change to ajet.
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