Helios / Alpha Air

[big fraidy cat]

Here's an interesting article appearing in today's Cyprus Mail electronic edition concerning a possible merger involving Helios, Eurocypria and, ultimately, Cyprus Air.


Mystery shrouds Helios-Eurocypria talks
By Jean Christou

MYSTERY yesterday shrouded a possible proposal by Helios Airways to be amalgamated into the new company the government will form when it buys Cyprus Airways (CY) subsidiary Eurocypria.

Reports on Wednesday said Finance Minister Michalis Sarris had met that afternoon with Andreas Drakos, the chairman of the Helios board to discuss “co-operation between the two airlines”.

The Ministry denied the reports yesterday, despite television footage purportedly showing Drakos and other Helios officials getting out of cars in the Finance Ministry’s underground car park.

In a written announcement, the Finance Ministry said no such meeting had taken place and that reports that it had did “not correspond to reality”.
However, the Cyprus Mail has learned that the proposal was raised with the government within the context of another meeting, which no one appears willing to talk about.

The idea that Helios, which lost an aircraft and 121 passengers and crew when it crashed into a hillside north of Athens on August 14 last year, could co-operate in some way with Cyprus Airways is not new and had been brought up before the accident.

When the government announced 10 days ago that it would be buying Eurocypria from Cyprus Airways, it was seen by Helios as a chance to resurrect the idea of co-operation. In fact, the Cyprus Mail has learned that the airline would favour complete amalgamation with Eurocypria to the extent that it would be willing to give it to the government in return for Helios shareholders having a stake in the new company that would be formed.

The idea is that the new company would not just be a government-owned airline, but would be more effective and independent. By taking Helios on board, Eurocypria would benefit from its infrastructure, which includes two Boeing 737-800s and several valuable landing slots at airports in the UK, including Heathrow, Luton and elsewhere.

However, Transport Minister Haris Thrasou told the Cyprus Mail last night that no such proposal had been presented to the government. “First of all Eurocypria, doesn’t belong to the government yet so how can we have negotiations with Helios while Eurocypria still belongs to Cyprus Airways?” he said.

Asked whether there was a possibility the Helios proposal could be considered, Thrasou said that, in his personal opinion, that would be premature.

“There are still investigations going on (into the crash),” he said. ‘It would not, in my opinion, be advisable to carry out negotiations with the company at this stage.”

In December 2004, Helios approached Cyprus Airways with a proposal to lease three planes from the national carrier’s now-defunct Athens-based subsidiary, Hellas Jet, one of the main causes for CY’s current financial troubles that have led to the sale of Eurocypria.

Helios offered Cyprus Airways $17 million to lease the three new aircraft from Hellas Jet, which was losing around £1 million a month at the time, but the proposal was rejected by CY, which is around 70 per cent owned by the government.

Helios is owned by the Libra Holiday Group (LHG), one of the biggest UK-based tour operators, which bought the airline in late 2004. LHG is listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange.

The Helios crash cost Libra at least £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October 2005 of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.

In relation to the £5 million Helios loss, LHG said it was contemplating suing third parties.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

[Buster the Bear]

HELIOS AIRWAYS is to cease flying but not trading, while its parent company Libra Holidays Group (LHG) intends to replace it with a new charter airline named A-Jet.

Still reeling after tragic crash that killed 121 passengers and crew north of Athens last August, Helios has been unable to fully recover and has caused multi-million in losses to LHG, which is listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange.

The Helios crash cost Libra at least £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October 2005 of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.

In relation to the £5 million Helios loss, LHG said it was contemplating suing third parties. But the company, one of the biggest UK-based tour operators said yesterday it is ready to create a new charter airline, which will use the aircraft and resources of Helios.

Libra chief executive Andreas Drakos told the Cyprus Mail yesterday it had applied for a licence for the creation of a new airline A-Jet.

“It’s not exactly ready yet,” he said but added that the company intended to make an announcement within days.

“We have been going through the normal processes of obtaining a licence for some time now,” Drakos said denying reports in Phileleftheros yesterday that they were bypassing normal procedures.

Drakos said Helios would remain on the books as a trading company but cease flying.

“Helios will remain as a company, a subsidiary of Libra to support the investigating committee and to pursue claims against third parties but cease carrying out operations,” Drakos said.

He said A-Jet would be mainly carrying out charter flights, unlike Helios, which also operated scheduled flights.

“Our business as a group is to bring people (tourists) in from the UK and Europe. This will be a new company,” he said.

An announcement from the Civil Aviation Department yesterday said that in January this year an application had been submitted by representatives of Helios to transfer the assets of the company to a company A-Jet.

“This application was rejected by the Department of Civil Aviation, because it was not compatible with the relevant European regulations,” said the announcement.

It said that last month the Department then received an application from the company A-Jet for a licence, along with the relevant documents.

“The technical aspects of the application is being examined by the Department of Civil Aviation, while for the legal aspects are the subject of a letter to the Attorney-general’s Office for his opinion” said the announcement.

It added that just because a process had begun for a licence did not imply the outcome would be successful or within a specified time period.

“This depends whether all of the technical and other conditions have been satisfied and also relevant EU regulations,” the Civil Aviation Department said, adding that it was handling the case with responsibility and having in mind the public interest and sensitivity.

Results of the Helios crash investigation are not due out at least until the end of April.

[BOAC]

More on R&N

[goldeneye]

Alpha Jet is the new name for Helios and there is a photo of there new livery here (http://www.airliners.net/open.file/1020096/L/)

[FlyboyUK]

Tail looks a bit close to the runway on rotation there!:eek:

[The SSK]

According to Agence-France Presse, the Cypriot Government have put on ice ajet's application for an operating licence, banned them from operating a test flight last Friday and are conducting an investigation into how they were able to schedule the flight in the first place, without a licence (ie did they have the agreement of the Cyprus CAA).

Could turn out to have been an expensive paint job.

[OLNEY 1 BRAVO]

Although the aircraft was painted in the new livery, the flights on Saturday and yesterday still operated as Helios flights - i.e. on the current AOC.

[Irish Steve]

On the basis of the report into the accident, which in places defies logical imagination, Helios is in need of a LOT more than a change of name and paint if it's going to have any credibility in the future.

I don't think there's an icon in that list over on the right to express how I respond to the findings of the investigation.

[big fraidy cat]

Fellas, I've been posting articles about this rebranding on the second Helios thread ... the Re-enactment. I did not start a new thread because the crash and the rebranding are so interconnected.

BFC

[The SSK]

I hear there's going to be another rebranding in that part of the world. Look out for Pantheon Airways.

[big fraidy cat]

Yes, and I'm not happy about it. Does that mean that Olympic will give up its five-rings logo? There should be some local screaming about that ... it's part of the country's national identity. :{

[The SSK]

Six rings ...

[840]

Yes, and I'm not happy about it. Does that mean that Olympic will give up its five-rings logo? There should be some local screaming about that ... it's part of the country's national identity. :{
6 rings :ok:

[big fraidy cat]

Ooops, I lost a ring ... probably the dog ate it !!

[The SSK]

Given that the IOC* will sue the pants off anyone who takes the Ol*mp*c name in vain or dares to use the image of the rings, maybe they will make a generous donation to Pantheon for freely relinquishing these symbols.
*International Ol*mp*c Committee, nothing to do with flying

[big fraidy cat]

Interesting suggestion. However, the actual Olympic rings are five in total; probably why Olympic Air(lines/ways) had to use six. I wonder if they needed to get permission for that.

[The SSK]

I think when OA was founded (1957?) the IOC had not yet discovered the money-making opportunities in 'branding' the Games (I think Games with a capital G is also a registered trademark).
However I am sure that when the OG became Big Business (LAX 84 onwards?) they must have regarded this airline flying round with 'their' name and 'their' rings with some distaste. In fact I can half recall an OA person telling me that it was the source of some political agitation by the IOC.
IIRC the sixth ring represented the sixth continent (S. America) that OA might fly to one day, or so they thought at the time they designed it. They did, of course, fly to Australia once upon a time.

[big fraidy cat]

Here's a belated post from yesterday's Cyprus Mail. The Cyprus Mail is staying very close to the story of the Helios attempt to rebrand. In fact, on Monday, I saw a photo of the new "a-jet" livery as it departed Luton on 18 March. I think it's very interesting that a company would go to the expense of changing its livery, without having first secured an operating license. Guess they thought that getting the license was gonna be easy!



Is there some invisible hand that is lifting ajet into the skies? By Elias Hazou

CONFUSION still reigned yesterday as to how ajet, the heir apparent to beleaguered Helios Airways, was cleared for a test flight last week that was cancelled on the eleventh hour.
Libra Holdings Group (LHG) which is one of the biggest UK-based tour operators and which owns Helios, had announced on March 13 that it was ready to create a new charter airline under the name of ajet, which will use the aircraft and resources of Helios.

Still reeling after last August’s tragic crash, Helios has been unable to fully recover and has caused multi-million in losses to LHG, which is listed on the Cyprus Stock Exchange.

The probe on the airline disaster is due sometime in April.

Last week news broke that ajet had secured permission to carry out a “proving flight,” a necessary step to establishing the airworthiness of an airline. Immediately that turned attention to the Civil Aviation Authority, as its consent was necessary for the test flight.

Assuming the test flight had gone ahead, ajet would have received an AOC (Air Operator’s License). But to commence actual operations, it would then also need a commercial license.

The above explanation was made yesterday by the Transport Ministry’s permanent secretary Makis Constantinides, who is leading a government inquiry into the contentious test flight.

“At first sight, it seems the airline and Civil Aviation were incommunicado,” Constantinides told state radio.

The flight had been scheduled for Thursday, but just two days earlier ajet received word from civil aviation that their request 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.

The word on the street is that “orders from above” (the Transport Ministry) led to the flight being scrapped.

Documents obtained by Phileleftheros show that civil aviation approved the test flight as far back as March 7. According to the paper’s sources, on March 9 the department sent a letter to the Attorney-general’s office for clarifications.

Yesterday Attorney-general Petros Clerides said his office received the letter last Friday (March 9), that is, after the scheduled date of the test flight.

Reports say that Transport Minister Harris Thrasou is furious with civil aviation’s delay in asking for Clerides’ opinion.

The big question was whether corners were cut – and by whom. According to ajet’s sales manager Nicos Anastassiades, the company did everything by the book and received no favours from civil aviation.

“Contrary to media speculation, our application for an AOC was not processed in record time,” Anastassiades insisted yesterday.

“We have not yet applied for a change of name. We have only applied for the creation of a new company. ajet does not exist as a commercial airline.”

Meanwhile on Sunday a Helios Airways plane flying under the livery of ajet made the Larnaca-Luton roundtrip. Although it is not uncommon for a plane to operate under the code of another airline, reports said that the printed material inside the aircraft (such as emergency manuals) also sported the ajet logo and colours.

DISY deputy Giorgos Georgiou yesterday urged the government to come clean and explain to the public whether Helios was being allowed to evolve into another airline while the victims’ relatives were still in mourning.

“Mr Thrasou’s handling of the matter is disappointing,” remarked Georgiou.

“On the one hand we have assurances that ajet has not received permission to fly, and on the other hand we see them touching down and taking off from airports. What’s going on?”
“Is there some invisible hand that is lifting ajet into the skies?” mused Georgiou.
In the meantime angered relatives and friends of the victims want the apparent evolution of Helios Airways into another airline to be stopped in its tracks.

Yesterday a delegation of the relatives met with Attorney-general Petros Clerides to voice their concerns that such a development might complicate or even derail legal proceedings they plan to take against the airline.

Spokesman for the relatives Nicolas Yiasoumis said after the meeting they were “satisfied” with the Attorney-general’s stance on the matter.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

[big fraidy cat]

Below is today's article from the Cyprus Mail about the rebranding of Helios to ajet, followed by two snippets which they published from the Greek Press relating to the same subject.


‘Ajet application was rushed through’
By Elias Hazou

THE CIVIL aviation department responsible for issuing air operator licences (AOC) to airlines was kept in the dark about ajet’s application for a test flight last week, cancelled at the eleventh hour after the personal intervention of Transport Minister Harris Thrasou.

The revelation was made yesterday by daily Phileleftheros, which claimed to be in possession of an internal civil aviation document drafted by Charalambos Hadjigeorgiou, the head of the licensing department.

Hadjigeorgiou was in the news shortly after last August’s Helios Airways crash, when he made stunning allegations about shortcomings in the department’s safety procedures. Among other things, he claimed that no in-flight checks had been carried out on any aircraft in Cyprus in the 10 months before the accident.

At the time, however, Hadjigeorgiou was discredited by his superiors, including Transport Minister Harris Thrasou, who questioned his motives.

But yesterday Thrasou confirmed the existence of Hadjigeorgiou’s memo. He then went a step further, conceding that certain individuals inside the civil aviation department had acted overzealously in giving ajet – the apparent successor to Helios – approval for the test flight.

“Yes, it seems that certain people inside the department were trying to rush things,” Thrasou commented.

Apart from being in bad taste, Helios’ transformation to ajet has caused uproar among the relatives of the air disaster’s victims, who view it suspiciously as an attempt by the company to evade criminal liability.

Previously, Phileleftheros had published ajet’s application for the contentious test flight; the photo contained a stamp of the civil aviation with the words “application approved.”

In his memo, Hadjigeorgiou complained that he was alerted to ajet’s request for an AOC by the media reports surfacing early next week.

“Up until today [March 13] the licensing department has not been informed of ajet’s application for an AOC, as is mandatory by the procedures of the Civil Aviation Department,” Hadjigeorgiou wrote.

He added: “These untransparent procedures and this selective sidelining of departmental officers entail legal risks for the Civil Aviation Authority and do not promote the professed upgrading of the department’s safety measures.”

Assuming there is truth to these allegations, it would suggest that certain quarters within civil aviation wanted to side-step Hadjigeorgiou, who has earned a reputation as a whistleblower and has likely alienated many colleagues inside the department.

Meanwhile media reports yesterday insisted that corners were cut in expediting ajet’s aspirations to gain an AOC.

On March 9 the department sent a letter to the Attorney-general’s office for clarifications on whether ajet’s applications posed any legal complications vis a vis the mother company’s responsibilities with regard to the air crash.

However, AG Petros Clerides said his office received the letter only last Friday (March 9), that is, after the scheduled date of the test flight, which had been approved as far back as March

It turned out that the hand-delivered letter took as long as 15 days to reach the AG; according to Phileleftheros, that was about the same amount of time it took for the relevant Civil Aviation Department to inspect the technical data submitted by ajet – manuals, personnel, organisational chart, maintenance and quality standards, etc.

In order to be able to fly, an airline must secure an AOC (which covers technical requirements) but also a commercial licence. The test flight, or ‘proving flight’ as it is called in the aviation business, is the last step towards acquiring an AOC.

“It looks as if civil aviation acted with the speed of light to approve the test flight,” noted DISY deputy Giorgos Georgiou yesterday.

“Had their cover not been blown by last week’s press reports, the flight would have happened and no one would be any the wiser,” he added.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

-------------------------------------------------------

PHILELEFTHEROS: “They had them in the dark”. The Licence Authorisation Department, one of three Civil Aviation Department sectors which has the responsibility of inspecting and consenting to the publication of any and all permits for aviation operations, was not only not notified that inspections had finished and that the permit had already been authorised for the final stage, which is the test flight, but were also never informed of ajet Company’s application.

HARAVGHI: “Red light for ajet”. The Minister of Communications has switched the red light for ajet in all procedures concerning permit authorisation who, after immediately having been notified of the scheduled test flight, gave instructions for the flight to be cancelled, adding that no procedure for any permit authorisation take place for this particular company before he receives the Attorney general’s opinion on the matter.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

[big fraidy cat]

From the Cyprus Mail today, there is a little more clarification on the recent media frenzy over the pending investigation report, as well as the issues of the rebranding.

Speculation is a dangerous sport
By Elias Hazou

Greek investigator warns media over Helios reports

COSTAS Orfanos, head of the Cypriot air-accident investigating team, yesterday warned of the dangers of media guesswork on the August 14 crash that killed 121 people.

Over the past few days Greek newspapers and television networks have claimed to be in possession of the draft of the probe being carried out by chief air investigator Akrivos Tsolakis.

Various versions of the story have seen the light of day, some placing emphasis on the Cypriot Civil Aviation Authority, others blaming everyone from Boeing, to local authorities to European air safety agencies.

The latest report by Greek public broadcaster NET on Tuesday night said that human error was “98 per cent responsible” for the tragedy.

But Orfanos dismissed all this as idle speculation.

“I have spoken with Mr Tsolakis, and he has assured me that the draft report is not done yet. Some important areas still need to be covered.”

According to Orfanos, the preliminary report should be ready by April and the final, official report by June.

“Therefore, we advise patience and caution. These media reports may be inaccurate, and often resort to hyperbole. I’m not saying they are all false. But even if some are true, you cannot use them out context.”

His sentiments were echoed by Nicolas Yiasoumi, spokesman for the committee set up by the victims’ relatives.

“All we want is for the truth to shine. We hope some quarters will not take advantage of these reports to promote their agendas, whatever they may be.”

Yiasoumi also lambasted authorities for the apparent fiasco in almost allowing ajet – the successor to Helios Airways – to carry out a test flight last week.

The flight was cancelled on the eleventh hour by Transport Minister Harris Thrasou amid public outcry that the airline might get away with murder by evolving into a new company.

“We are disappointed with the Transport Ministry and civil aviation for the way they handled the whole affair,” Yiasoumi said.

“The last thing we want is for the issue to be politicised,” he added.

He said relatives of the victims were planning to meet with Thrasou and next with President Papadopoulos as soon as he returned from abroad.

Meanwhile yesterday some things began to clear up with regard to ajet’s controversial test flight.

The flight was cleared by civil aviation, and would have been the last step toward the company receiving an AOC (air operator’s licence).

However, it seems civil aviation did inform the company that it first needed to check whether the transformation to ajet did not let the airline off the hook with regard to its responsibilities for last August’s crash.
Ajet was told that if the Attorney-general gave them the green light on this point, then civil aviation would issue the airline an AOC. It was on this understanding that the test flight was allowed to take place.

Legal sources also said that it did not matter whether the airline concerned was ajet or Helios, as its insurers were the same and therefore any damages claims by relatives of the victims would not be jeopardised.

Nevertheless, it remains a mystery why the civil aviation department responsible for licensing was left in the dark about the test flight.

But in the panic ensuing from the news reports on the test flight, Transport Minister Harris Thrasou ordered an inquiry, pledging that heads would roll.

Thrasou himself appeared unsure about the details of regulations when the matter first surfaced. Commentators conceded yesterday that the initial media reaction may have been over the top.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2005

[big fraidy cat]

Pressure from the Helios crash victims' families continues to be applied on the Cypriot CAA and on the government regarding the Helios rebranding issue. Below is a follow-up article on the current status of the matter published today by the Cyprus Mail online edition.


Name change won’t save Helios if guilty
By Elias Hazou

AJET, the successor airline to disaster-stricken Helios, will not get off scot-free if the probe into last August’s crash finds the company liable, no matter under what name it is flying, the government has pledged.

The assurances came as debate continued to rage yesterday over whether the airline’s change of name to ajet might exonerate it from blame for the tragedy that cost the lives of 121 people.

A furore erupted last month when it was revealed that a new company, ajet, had applied to Civil Aviation for a licence and would be using the assets and flight code of Helios. The company had also applied for an Air Operator’s License (AOC) 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.

Ajet’s AOC application is now pending with Civil Aviation, which has asked the Attorney-general’s office for a legal opinion.

In the meantime, Helios’ aircraft are 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.

This has further upset the victims’ relatives, who see the airline’s moves as being in bad taste and also worry about the safety of the ‘new’ company.

When the affair surfaced a month ago, authorities seemed baffled as to what Helios was and was not allowed to do, inadvertently feeding speculation that a cover-up was in the works.

Gradually, however, it emerged that the government was simply going through its paces.

Even yesterday Transport Minister Harris Thrasou was unwilling to commit to a clear answer, saying it was up to the AG to decide whether ajet could fly as a charter carrier.

Asked on CyBC radio about the mix-up with the names, flights codes and so forth, Thrasou offered:

“There is no similar precedent in Cyprus…we’re new at this.”

But he said the switch of names per se was not the real issue at stake.

His sentiments were echoed by government spokesman George Lillikas, who told reporters that the Registrar of Companies had no choice but to accept Helios’ application to be renamed to ajet.

“We need to realise in Cyprus that we have laws, and that these laws cannot be interpreted differently by different agencies

“In the event the [crash] probe is damning on the airline, it shall be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, irrespective of what name it carries. If the company is found to be liable, its planes will be grounded,” added Lillikas.

“There is no possibility of the airline getting away with it, so to speak.”

But Elias Pavlakis, a lawyer representing the bereaved relatives, was far from reassured.
He said that for a new AOC to be issued, a series of control procedures had to be carried out, irrespective of whether the airline applying already had all the necessary infrastructure and organisation in place.
“Also, the name of the airline – in this case ajet – is always the first item to appear on an AOC,” he said.

Moreover, Pavlakis cited ICAO’s (International Civil Aviation Organisation) Safety Oversight Manual, according to which any airline with a crash record should undergo all checks from scratch.

In other words, whether or not Helios operated under the name of ajet, the carrier should have been subjected to the scrutiny of civil aviation authorities.

“I therefore can’t understand why – and under what regulations – would the Republic of Cyprus be willing to take the risk of allowing Helios to fly under a different name, and this even before the crash investigation has been completed?”

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.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[Buster the Bear]

I understand that XL or as we know it, Excel Airways are taking one of two Helios 737-800's on lease this summer.

GOXLB Boeing B738 5BDBH Acquired provisionally 01 May 06- 01 Nov 06

[big fraidy cat]

Here's a follow-up to yesterday's article by the Cyprus Mail. I must say that I appreciate their journalistic efforts in keeping this matter in the public eye. Sometimes we need another watchdog to watch the watchdogs!

Report looks into Civil Aviation role in Helios name change

THE CIVIL Aviation Authority came under fire yesterday after it was indicated in a ministry report that some aviation officials had underhandedly nudged forward Ajet’s licence application.

There has been a public outcry and political debate recently over whether Helios’ change of name to Ajet might exonerate it from blame for the tragedy that cost the lives of 121 people, who perished in the Grammatikos Helios air crash of August, 2005.

According to CyBC sources, the report took an in-depth look into whether Civil Aviation handled the license application for Ajet by the book or if favouritism had been shown during the procedure.

But signs did not looking good for some Civil Aviation personnel, according to CyBC which added that the report could very well end up in the hands of Attorney-general, Petros Klerides. The report, however, is not based on hard facts but rather a summary of what went on during Helios’ application.

Communications Minister Haris Thrasou yesterday received the lengthy report, believed to be anywhere between 250 and 300 pages, from the Communications Ministry Permanent Secretary Makis Constantinides.

The minister yesterday refrained from commenting on the report saying that “he hadn’t finished reviewing it.”

There has been confusion among many in recent days after Helios’ decision to fly their aircraft 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 in any case, government officials have promised that the successor airline to Helios will not get off scot-free if the probe into last August’s crash finds the company liable, no matter under what name it is flying.


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[big fraidy cat]

Double articles today from the Cyprus Mail online edition. Of course, all of this is about money, but if that leads to safety reforms (see new thread started today regarding the revamping of the Cypriot Aviation Authority), then I say hats off to the media for keeping this issue in the public eye.


Pressure from the tour operators?
By Jean Christou

VARYING reports have surfaced in the tourism industry as to what is behind Libra’s push to rename Helios Airways as ajet.

Clearly, when an airline is involved in an accident, there can be an impetus to change name to try and salvage what business a company might have left.

Speculation is rife as to whether the airline, which brings in a substantial 250,000 tourists to Cyprus, has come under pressure from jittery tour operators. However, many in the industry say this is not strictly correct.
“Certainly, we want everything about this company to be cleared up as soon as possible,” said an official industry source. “We don’t want any question marks either about names or about changing status or who is responsible and who is not. It’s not good for tourism. We want clear answers from everyone.”

The source admitted that although Helios was a significant player in the industry and important for Cyprus tourism, the issue of the families of the victims was also very important. “That’s why government officials don’t say much. They might be scared of the reactions.”

As far as foreign tour operator go, the source said that they also would like to see the status of Helios-ajet clarified, although he denied reports of actual pressure on the airline by tour operators.

“They have business with them, they have plans with them and they have contracts with them and they are just asking for a clear picture of the situation,” he added.

Noel Josephides, vice chairman of the UK-based Association of Greek Cypriot Travel Agents (AGTA) said there had been no pressure on Helios from any operator.

“In England, everyone forgot what happened after about two weeks. Once the publicity died down that was it,” he said. “We all carried on booking Helios.”

However, Josephides believed the aftermath of the last year’s crash had been very badly handled, both by the government and by the airline itself, something he put down to lack of experience.

“We found the media frenzy that followed it just insane and badly informed. People just came out and said anything they liked,” he said.
“But there’s absolutely no pressure from UK operators for Helios to change its name.”

Josephides said he did not see why the company needed to change its name. “Helios was a better known name and a lot of time was spent in building up that name. Tour operators probably prefer the old name remained. Certainly no one from Greece and Cyprus will forget or perhaps want to fly, but I put the blame for this on the bad handling in the aftermath by the authorities, the press and management of the company itself due to inexperience,” he added.

Josephides said people had forgotten it was Helios that had sparked the dramatic fall in fares that Cyprus had seen in recent years, which led Cyprus Airways to follow.

“Helios was the pioneer in creating a no-frills sector for Cyprus and completely transformed the way tourism worked, so to damn the airline is very wrong. I understand the emotional part, but this airline did an enormous amount to transform tourism flow to Cyprus,” he said.
But times continue to be difficult for the airline. Sources close to the company say they are at a loss to understand why such a fuss has been created over the name change.

“The company has lost two contracts and is currently seeking to substitute that business. Helios brings in 235,000 tourists into Cyprus, but it seems the government doesn’t understand or want to understand this aspect,” said the source.

“This has tremendous financial implications. There is more demand than supply in the airline business at the moment and in the slots that Helios had,” the source added, saying that the airline had sold three of its slots, one each in Norway and France and one in Amsterdam.

“Damage is not only being done to the airline itself but to the island as a whole. What has been lost is lost and the only reason they have been lost is because of the delay that occurred in the name change,” said the source.

“Unfortunately it seems no one is being put in the picture. This is not the first time Libra has bought a company and changed its name. It did it with Excel Airways, and by European law an airline should be able to change its name.”


Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

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Helios or ajet: much ado about nothing?
By Jean Christou

TRYING to figure out what exactly is going on with the Helios-ajet saga is a little like attempting to extract blood from the proverbial stone.

No one wants to stick their neck out for fear of upsetting someone, especially the relatives of the 121 victims of last August’s doomed Helios flight.

There is a general perception gleaned from certain media outlets that Helios is attempting to avoid its responsibilities towards the families, while the official side appears to be stalling on taking a decision on the future of the airline. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.
Last month, Libra Holidays Group, which owns Helios, announced the creation of a new airline named ajet, to which the assets of Helios would be transferred. Staff would also be the same. Libra said Helios would continue to exist as a legal entity to fulfill its responsibilities, but would no longer be flying.

This was greeted with a certain public outrage, particularly as the ajet launch appeared to be going ahead without having obtained the required licences from the Civil Aviation Department.

Reports then surfaced that someone in the department was pushing the ajet application forward in a hurry, and an investigation has been now been launched into those suspicions.

In the meantime, Libra changed tack and decided not to go ahead with the notion of a separate company, simply changing the name of Helios to ajet.
It was then that the complications began. The Helios livery had already been changed to reflect the ajet colours and logo, yet ticketing, flight codes and licences all say Helios.

The authorities say there is no legal reason why Helios cannot change its name to ajet at the Registrar of Companies, as this is done every day by companies all over Cyprus. The Attorney-general backed this up, so why is the issue still causing grief to the Civil Aviation Department?

“The company has changed the name. However, the procedure for an airline, because it is not just another company, is different,” said a source in the airline industry.

The source said airline manuals state quite clearly that if a company wants to change its name, it must give 30 days’ notice to civil aviation authorities, “which means that before you carry out a name change, you have to have the permission from civil aviation”.

“Civil aviation also has the responsibility to see the reason for the name change. Is it a straightforward name change? Does it affect anything in the ownership. From that point of view, it is all procedural,” the source said.

He said that once this approval was granted the airline could go to the Registrar of Companies and ask for a name change. This, he added, was the proper procedure.

“Unfortunately, this company did it the other way around. They went and changed the name first and the problem now is that ajet is flying with a certificate that says Helios Airways, but if you go into the Registrar of Companies you will not find a Helios Airways Ltd, you will find ajet Aviation Ltd.”

The source said it was likely in this case that the Registrar might not have been aware there was a different procedure for airline name changes, although the requirement is not written into law. “But they did act correctly, because they sent it to the Attorney-general and he said to go ahead because the law is such that you cannot refuse a name change of a company,” the source added.

“The problem is that within the company they should have first gone to civil aviation rather than other way around. The responsibility is also on the airline to follow the correct procedure because it is stated quite clearly.”

In defence of Helios, the source said the issue was merely procedural. “Nothing has changed from the point of view of liabilities or obligations,” he said. “The company is still the same, the shareholding is still the same. It’s just a marketing move.”

He said the issue now was of civil aviation having to decide on ‘post-name change’ permission. “But because of various reactions and the sensitivity of the case and the attempt of the airline to create another airline, that is where things stand, which has made people suspicious,” said the source.

He said civil aviation had 30 days to reply to the ‘posthumous’ Helios name-change application, which was only filed a week ago, 10 days after the airline applied to the Registrar of Companies.

“There was no reason for civil aviation to refuse if the application had been submitted to them first,” said the source. “If you have to wait for 30 days you have to wait for 30 days. You should always follow procedure to the letter so that you motives are not called into question.”

He said that if civil aviation were to say ‘no’, which would be an extreme reaction, all that would happen would be that the airline would continue as Helios, which it is already doing to all intents and purposes.

Makis Constantinides, Permanent Secretary of the Transport Ministry, refused to be drawn on the Helios-ajet issue. “There is a procedure through which the names are changed. The department is handling the situation and it’s their decision. They are following procedures and will come up with a solution,” he said.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[Alan Tracey]

I know that this is a very emotive issue still in Cyprus, and in some way the media helps + sometimes it's aim is to senationalise to sell copies.

I would have thought the only way Helios could servive is by a re-brand. It would seem more logical to allow the carrier to survive than go bankrupt and all those "griving" relations/friends losing the possibility of compensation.

[HappyTrails]

Who's flying into LTN today from Larnaca with flight # HCY400!
Any ideas ?

[TimS]

HCY = Helios = ZU

[big fraidy cat]

Here's some current news on the rebranding issue with regard to the very prickly relationship between the government and the victims' families. This from today's Cyprus Mail online edition.

Minister denies ‘ironic letter’ to Helios relatives
By John Leonidou

THE HELIOS Victims Relatives Committee yesterday accused Communications Minister Haris Thrasou of not taking them seriously.
The head of the committee, Nicolas Yiasoumis, insisted yesterday that correct procedures were not followed by the Civil Aviation Department, which is under the authority of the Ministry of Communications, in the decision to allow Helios Airways to change the airline name to ajet.

Thrasou yesterday defended Civil Aviation, saying it was not even his department which allowed the name change and that their anger should be directed elsewhere.
Clearly annoyed, Yiasoumis told state radio: “We would like to know what these procedures were exactly so we can put an end, once and for all, to this situation and see the exact truth behind what happened.

“We were surprised to see that the Minister, in his letter sent to us, was being ironic to the committee and its advisers, saying we had not given the Ministry our own people to look into the matter,” said Yiasoumis.

He added he would request that the legal opinion of the Attorney-general on the matter be made public, so his committee could see “what has been followed by the book and what has not been followed by the book.”

“Why was the Ministry requesting that we should send our own people to review if the procedure was followed correctly?” said Yiasoumis.

“Is the Ministry itself unable to carry out and interpret international regulations on matters like these? The Attorney-general himself had said that this matter was clearly a matter for Civil Aviation and the Minister is telling us that we should be turning our views to the Attorney-general. Does the Minister think that the Helios Relatives Committee is a ‘ping-pong’ ball that can bounced from one end to the other and be mocked?

“There are certain matters and events that have happened which are troubling us and we call on the Ministry to tell us exactly what the Attorney-general said.”
Thrasou replied that he had been informed by Civil Aviation that the instructions of the Attorney-general had been followed correctly.

He added he would make public all the correspondence between himself, the Attorney-general and the Civil Aviation department. He then called on the relatives committee to inform him in which areas they believed the correct procedures had not been followed.
“I have been informed by Civil Aviation that the correct procedures have been followed but that the legal advisers of the relatives’ committee disagree with that assumption. Is it ironic for me to ask what areas they do not agree with? If they say that some procedures are not being conducted properly then tell us which areas they are.
“Is it instead correct to go on the air and slam the changing of the name, which was not even done by us but by another state service? Even the Civil Aviation has not yet approved the name change and is still reviewing the request for the changing of the name in order for the appropriate licences to be granted. No such approval has been given yet.”
The state service which allowed the name change was the Registrar of Companies, which comes under the Commerce Ministry, which did so after first checking with Attorney-general Petros Clerides.

Clerides said yesterday he had absolutely no problems giving his legal opinion to the relatives’ committee. He added that the main issue should not be the change of the airline name but whether air safety has been compromised by the name change.
“I will give my legal opinion to them and I have no problem with that. The legal services have nothing to hide”, said Clerides.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[big fraidy cat]

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.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[transwede]

What is happening with this carrier?

Rumours are rife of being potentially blacklisted and operation moving to the UK! Also is it true that their license for operating during all manner of bad weather has been suspended.

With the airline constantly plagued by negative rumours and press, the future can't look too rosy?

[Cyrano]

A side note: it's been reported this morning that Ajet (ex-Helios) is ceasing its flying operations in the next 3 months, according to Libra, the parent company. The report says that the company is however being maintained as a legal entity because of the outstanding claims against it.

[big fraidy cat]

According to the following article in the Cyprus Mail [Tuesday, 31 October], Ajet will cease to operate entirely:

Ajet to cease flights in three months

Lawyer cites economic failure due to ‘war’ against airline

AJET, formerly known as Helios Airways, announced yesterday that it would cease all airline operations in the next three months, a move which the ajet’s legal team has emphasised does not relieve the airline of any responsibilities.

In the statement, the airline assured all booked passengers that their tickets would not be affected, as all scheduled flights would take place as planned.

The announcement has prompted speculation that the decision by Libra Holidays Group to end all the flights of its subsidiary ajet is directly related to the release of the long-awaited Tsolakis investigative report into the August 2005 Helios plane crash in Grammatiko, Greece that killed all 121 passengers and crew onboard.

Although the Tsolakis report pointed primarily at pilot error as the cause of the crash, it also cited lax safety standards from Helios Airways.

Ajet’s troubles compounded when, only two days after the release of the Tsolakis report, the European Commission in an aviation safety review gave a ‘yellow card’ to ajet by placing it under heavy scrutiny and limiting its flights within the EU.

But the company’s lawyer Christos Neocleous claimed that the airline had decided to end all airline operations for purely economic reasons due to a “war” that had been waged against the company.

“The company cannot manage anymore,” Neocleous said. “Due to this war that it has endured from all sectors of Cypriot society, it cannot survive any longer to pay the costs of maintaining a flight programme, along with its obligations to its employees and co-operators.”
“It [ajet] did not have the slightest help. It was merely mocked and blackmailed, and faced the worst kind of war it could face.”

Neocleous also insisted that the ending of its flights in no way affected any of the company’s legal obligations to the relatives of the Helios crash victims that might arise on completion of any investigations in Cyprus and Greece.

The independent Helios committee, chaired by Panayiotis Kallis, is investigating the accident in parallel with a criminal investigation by the Cyprus police. On October 22 an Athens public prosecutor launched criminal proceedings.

Neocleous also noted that ajet has pending cases against third parties and so the company would remain as a registered company in the company registrar of the Cyprus Republic. “If you look at it in trade terms, it is not in the company’s interest to close completely.”
In its announcement ajet declared that all scheduled flights “will be performed as normal and passengers booked on ajet flights will not be affected”, adding that no reconfirmation of booked travel arrangements is necessary and that new reservations can still be made “since all scheduled flights will be completed”.

The ajet board will decide at a later date how to offload the two aircraft that the airline presently leases.

According to Neocleous, efforts are underway by ajet representatives so that no ajet personnel remain without work, and contacts have been made with collaborating companies to “absorb personnel that for one year now have stood beside the airline.”

“But aside from that, the staff will be compensated according to the terms of their contracts,” Neocleous added.

Communications and Works Minister Harris Thrasou told reporters yesterday that neither the Communications Ministry, nor Civil Aviation had been informed of ajet’s decision to end all flights within three months.

Thrasou said that ajet could not escape any responsibilities by terminating its flights, a view echoed in statements by Loizos Papacharalambous, the lawyer representing the victims and relatives of the Helios crash.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[Flyingphil]

Hello Guys,

just FYI:
After all the discussions, negative press etc. AJET, the successor of HELIOS will discontinue operations as of January.

This information was just published in the german newspaper FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND (Online).

Rumours state that the management tries to avoid being sued for the Crash near Athens last summer by liqidation of the firm.


Regards

[Colonel Klink]

This was on the news yestersday, an inevitable conclusion I suppose, and very sad to those who fly there.
October 30, 2006
A Cypriot commercial airline, which changed its name after Cyprus's worst aviation disaster, said it would terminate flight operations.
AJet, successor company to Helios Airways, will end its flight schedule within three months, said holding company Libra Holidays in a statement released to the stock exchange on Monday.
Libra said the decision was based on financial considerations. AJet will remain a legal entity because of financial claims against third parties, it said.
The carrier has suffered a barrage of bad publicity over its safety track record since its Boeing 737-300 crashed into a Greek hillside on August 14, 2005, killing all 121 people on board.
In one of the most mysterious disasters in aviation history, the aircraft flew on autopilot for more than two hours after taking off from Larnaca in Cyprus for Prague. It crashed from lack of fuel as a flight attendant with rudimentary pilot's training and the only person apparently conscious on the aircraft grappled with the controls.
Greek F-16 fighter pilots, which scrambled to intercept the aircraft after it failed to respond to radio calls, saw the attendant in the cockpit and oxygen masks hanging in the cabin.
A Greek investigator's report released in early October blamed the crash on deficient technical checks, the pilots' failure to pick up on compression warnings regulating oxygen supplies and shortcomings in the safety culture at Helios.
It also blamed Cyprus's regulatory authority for an inadequate execution of its oversight responsibility and planemaker Boeing for failing to respond to previous pressurization incidents.
The carrier has challenged the report, saying it offered no adequate or plausible explanation of how its alleged shortcomings could be linked to the accident.
(Reuters)

[big fraidy cat]

Today's Cyprus Mail covers the continued legal wrangling [by the way, the court's decision in Chicago, regarding the venue, has not yet been handed down]:

Ajet: we’re not dodging justice
By Elias Hazou

RELATIVES of the Helios air crash victims warned yesterday that any attempt by the airline to shirk its responsibilities would be futile.

The warning came a day after Helios, now known as ajet, announced it was ceasing all airline operations within the next three months.

Nicolas Yiasoumis, spokesman for the relatives, regarded the move with suspicion.

“Our lawyers are monitoring this closely, and we shall intervene where and if necessary. Any effort [by the airline] to make money out of this, to tread over dead bodies, shall not come to pass,” he said.

Apart from the accident, ajet’s troubles got worse when, only two days after the release of the Tsolakis report, the European Commission in an aviation safety review gave it a ‘yellow card’ by placing it under heavy scrutiny and limiting its flights within the EU.

Despite this, it was clear that even by the August 14 anniversary of the crash, Helios, the pioneer no-frills airline in Cyprus, was finished as far as the Cypriot public was concerned.

The airline dropped its Athens route immediately after the crash, and finally handed back its Heathrow slot in the middle of January this year. It had kept its hard-won slot at Luton, but dealt mainly in charter seats and online bookings for the British market.

Christos Neocleous, lawyer and spokesman for the embattled airline, told the Mail yesterday that continued operation was “no longer feasible financially”.

And he blamed the “witch hunt climate” cultivated in Cyprus in the aftermath of the crash.

“The Kallis hearings were a public tribunal. Anyone who had a beef with the airline came out and said terrible things about it. In the public mind, the airline was condemned.”

Neocleous said the company, a subsidiary of the Libra Holidays Group, would remain registered so that it could honour any civil liability claims with regard to the crash.

Earlier in the day, the lawyer told CyBC radio that the company’s insurers have already contacted the victims’ relatives to inform them that any compensation awarded would be paid in full.

Ajet has been at pains to show that its latest move – as well as its name change – is not aimed at dodging justice.

But the airline is not crossing its arms and simply waiting for its fate. Using the recently released accident report as a springboard, the airline is suing Boeing for manufacturing faults which they say played a major part in the disaster

The lawsuit has been filed in a Greek court, and seeks compensation of at least £30 million. The figure reportedly includes: loss of the jet, compensation for the poor reputation suffered by the airline, damages of £8 to £10 million in the wake of the accident, and compensation for the families of the victims.

Relatives are already suing Boeing in the United States for similar reasons. A Chicago court is to decide whether the hearings should be held there.

Compensation awarded in the United States is typically more substantial than in Greece or Cyprus.

Boeing has admitted its 737 series of planes suffer from design faults – highlighted in the accident report – suggesting an out-of-court settlement cannot be ruled out.

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[Globaliser]

More this post (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2938259#post2938259) yesterday, and following posts, in this thread (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=206155).

[Frangible]

In regard to Ajet ceasing ops, it seems as though the only way a crap airline risks losing its AOC is if it does it itself.

Don't be too hard on Cyprus for not acting. They sub-contracted all inspection and monitoring of Helios to UK CAA.

[transwede]

Quite a few UK charter companies will now need to find a new carrier to provide flights if AJY are ceasing operations. Alot of work was carried out for Libra, aswell as Mytravel, XL, Freedom flights, Olympic etc

Shame to see an airline disappear, but it was inevitable.

Good luck to staff at AJY:D

[red button]

The latest on the Cypriot news is that Ajet has ceased all operations. 2 Flights from Larnaca were cancelled today, leaving all the passengers stranded. The BHX flight due to leave at 7:00 am was cancelled before the Cypriot minister for works and Communications issued a notice to Ajet at 2:00 pm.
A statement made by the minister also stated that the company owes the Republic of Cyprus a large amount of money. One leased B737-800 has been inpounded at LCA. A Eurocypria charter plane has left Cyprus tonight to take the Passengers to the UK. Apparently, noone from Ajet was available to make any comment of the todays actions. The company website has also been suspended, for "maintanance purposes".

Best of luck to the staff of Ajet, who tried to save their company after the awful event of last year.

[groundhogbhx]

We have the ECA coming in about 2300 tonight with the Ajet pax on board, earlier the airport was showing the Ajet enroute for 1700 ish. Did it get called back or was the eta wishfull thinking?

[mnez]

good morning,
my brother reports from Paphos, that 'ajet's jet was blocked on runway and deferred from taking off by police. apparent reason: high tax liabilities'.
this report lacks vital details but that's all I have.
...and the website is down.

[rumair999]

So with Ajet now gone is there a need for another carrier to base aircraft or indeed aircraft's ex LCA for summer07 perhaps a UK airline may open a new base....views?

[Travel Agent]

good morning,
my brother reports from Paphos, that 'ajet's jet was blocked on runway and deferred from taking off by police. apparent reason: high tax liabilities'.
this report lacks vital details but that's all I have.
...and the website is down.
I was on that flight yesterday, and it was infact delayed because the luggage loader hit the hold door. Cypriot aviation authorities and the captain, f/o and Cyprus Airlines maintenence investigated took lots of photos and then announced we would be leaving as it had been passed fit to fly.

On arrival at MAN the crew had just been informed that they would not be returning to Cyprus on the aircraft as A-Jet had ceased operations and it was to return to the lessor, they were going to return as pax on a XLA flight. The A-Jet return flight from MAN was cancelled. The aircraft left about an hour after it arrived. It was the latest aircraft the had "Echo Charlie" with wingtips.

[albiej]

Just been sent this from todays Cyprus Mail.
Airport chaos as government grounds ajet flights
By Elias Hazou
PASSENGERS were yesterday caught in the middle of a game of chicken between ajet and the government, after a plane was grounded at Larnaca airport.
The flight to Gatwick was scheduled for 4pm, but on the orders of the airport chief a maintenance vehicle was deployed on the runway to block the jet.
Some 200 passengers were left waiting on the plane. Once they realised that the flight wasn’t happening, they disembarked and headed for the airport’s departure lounge, frantically searching for airline officials to explain the situation. There were no ajet staff to be seen.
Tempers flared when the frustrated passengers, stranded at the departure lounge for hours without any cash or food, got into a verbal altercation with airport security.
Calm was eventually restored as the travellers were transferred to a Eurocypria flight later in the night.
An earlier flight with ajet had also been cancelled, but due to technical reasons.
Transport Minister Harris Thrassou told CyBC television that he had instructed airport officials to prevent the afternoon plane from taking off.
He said that, earlier in the day, the airline had informed Civil Aviation that it was ceasing its flight operations forthwith.
“As such, we had no other choice but to ground the plane,” Thrasou said.
Earlier in the week, the company announced it was terminating all operations inside the next three months due to accrued financial difficulties in the aftermath of last summer’s crash.
In this light, Thrassou described ajet’s move yesterday as being completely out of the blue.
“We can’t put up with the company’s wavering any longer. They have forced our hand,” he said.
But ajet, which called the blocking of their aircraft a “commando raid”, had a very different take.
Company sources told the Mail yesterday that ajet was in fact ceasing operations, but this was because of a disagreement over taxes owed to the government.
The government demanded that ajet pay all its arrears immediately, something the company turned down.
The same sources said they had reassured the government they would pay up, but needed more time – the three-month deadline mentioned above.
But the government refused, blackmailing the airline that it would stop its planes from flying unless it received the taxes owed, the company sources claimed. In response, ajet said it had no other option but to halt operations.
Some strong language was exchanged over the phones, the Mail has learned.
With neither side willing to back down, the government made good on its threat, blocking the plane on the runway, the sources said.
Bookings with ajet are to be re-directed to charter airlines.
Last month reports surfaced that ajet, formerly known as Helios, was moving its base of operation to Britain.
The airline dropped its Athens route immediately after the crash, and finally handed back its Heathrow slot in the middle of January this year. It had kept its hard-won slot at Luton, but dealt mainly in charter seats and online bookings for the British market.
The crash cost airline owners Libra at least £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October last year of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[LNAV VNAV]

The crash cost airline owners Libra at least £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October last year of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.


Someone said something about safety being expensive......?

[Airborne16]

Just read in Travel Weekly that Ajet (formerly Helios) have ceased trading. Not managed to find anything on the web about it though. It says that it happened on Wednesday.

Can anyone confirm?

[albiej]

End of the road for ajet
By Alexia Saoulli
CIVIL aviation authorities yesterday issued an order grounding ajet flights from Cyprus, and secured a court injunction freezing assets of the company worth £3 million.
The injunction is to be reviewed by a court today. Meanwhile, authorities rescinded ajet's flight certificate, Communications Minister Haris Thrassou said yesterday.
"Our legislation gives the government the right to prevent flights until the Republic recoups its debt," he said.
Ajet, the successor company to Helios Airways, had already announced a suspension of operations but the government moved in swiftly to ground its fleet when it emerged on Wednesday that the carrier planned to shut earlier than scheduled.
Attorney-general Petros Klerides announced yesterday morning that a Limassol district court had issued a court order banning the departure of an ajet’s aircraft from Larnaca.
The company’s two other planes are currently abroad.
"A court order has also been issued regarding our request to freeze up to £3 million of ajet’s assets, which is a little less than the amount owed to the state according to the Communication Ministry in airport taxes and other dues," Klerides added.
Ajet owes the state more than £2 million in accrued tax, which the government has demanded that the carrier pay immediately.
Thrassou gave the order to ground an ajet plane bound for Birmingham late on Wednesday. The order came almost immediately after ajet informed aviation authorities it would suspend operations.
Witnesses said a maintenance vehicle blocked the aircraft on the tarmac at Larnaca airport while passengers were on board.
The same plane was stopped from flying to Sofia and Warsaw yesterday, resulting in alternative travel arrangements having to be made for hundreds of passengers, many of whom had to wait at Larnaca airport for hours. The Sofia passengers were eventually transferred to a Eurocypria plane, while those travelling for Warsaw were taken to a hotel for the night.
Ajet lawyer Christos Neocleous said yesterday the airline had had no choice but to suspend operations earlier than scheduled because creditors had suddenly sought immediate payment, and not incrementally as initially agreed.
A statement released to the stock exchange by Libra Holidays Group, the publicly listed parent company of ajet, said the same thing.
Neocleous accused the government of treating the airline unfavourably and blamed the authorities for the chaos with delayed flights, accusing it of using the airline's only aircraft as a pawn.
But Klerides and President Tassos Papadopoulos both defended Thrassou's decision to ground the aircraft and said the minister had had every legal right to do so, particularly based on the huge amount of money owed by the company.
"The government had to find a way to secure the money owed to the state," the president said.
Thrassou said the decision to stop the carrier's flights would not affect the ongoing investigation into the last year's Helios air disaster nor any possible civil suits brought against the airline by the victims' families.
He said the carrier had forced his hand in grounding the plane after its announcement that it was terminating all flight operations, leaving him no choice but to act in the best interest of the state. He said the state would be suing the company to get the money back.
Helios and its successor company ajet, which only changed its name earlier this year, have been hammered by a barrage of bad publicity over its safety record since its Boeing 737-300 rammed into a Greek hillside on August 14, 2005, killing all 121 people on board.
The aircraft flew on autopilot for more than two hours, with most people on board unconscious, before crashing from lack of fuel.
A Greek investigator's report released in early October blamed the crash on deficient technical checks, the pilots' failure to pick up on compression warnings regulating oxygen supplies, and shortcomings in the safety culture at Helios.
The carrier has challenged the report, saying it offered no plausible explanation of how its alleged shortcomings could have been linked to the crash.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[big fraidy cat]

According to the Cyprus Mail of 8 November, operations and employees will be taken over by Excel:


Ajet: state stopping us from paying creditors
By Elias Hazou
(archive article - Wednesday, November 8, 2006)
CASH-STRAPPED ajet said yesterday it had been beset upon by ravenous creditors as it struggled to keep afloat and pay off its debts.

This week the airline, which has suffered substantial losses since last summer’s air crash and the ensuing bad publicity, felt the noose tighten as the government and then Hermes, administrators of Larnaca airport, demanded it make good on its arrears.

Hermes wants 625,000 euros from ajet (airport fees for the months of September and October) and another 275,000 euros from Celestia, the owners of the planes.

The Transport Ministry is also asking Celestia for £740,000 in unpaid dues.

On Monday the Attorney-general’s office filed an injunction with a Larnaca court to seize the airline’s remaining plane. The Transport Ministry has meanwhile issued a second interim order grounding the airline’s fleet.

Yesterday the court postponed examining a motion by the government to keep the plane grounded, as well as a petition by Hermes to freeze the assets of Celestia.
Ajet’s assets have already been frozen by a court order.

Until the court reconvenes, the government is within its rights to stop the plane from taking off.

Ajet is said to owe the state more than £2 million in accrued tax, which the government demands the airline pay immediately.

The money rush arose soon after ajet announced it was ceasing operations within the next three months. Some say the government feared the company might default on its debts.

But once the spat with the government broke out, the airline said it was terminating flights immediately and would be transferring bookings to another operator, Excel Airways.

Its some 200 employees would also be relocated to Excel, but it now seems they might be left in the lurch.

The low-cost carrier says its immovable assets amount to just £400,000, and that it is being stripped of the very means by which it could repay their dues.

“If this information is accurate, then it is disastrous for everyone involved,” offered lawyer Pambos Ioannides, of the Tassos Papadopoulos law firm representing Hermes.

“The company’s assets are far less than their outstanding dues. This would have serious repercussions for its creditors. I wonder how they could continue operating in these circumstances,” he added.

According to ajet, they had planned to return the plane to Celestia and thus get a refund on a deposit. Moreover, they claim, they recently concluded an arrangement with Boeing, who agreed to pay up to 30 per cent on damages awarded to the families of the crash victims.

This latter figure amounted to around $9 million, ajet lawyer Christos Neocleous told the Mail yesterday.

“We had a strategy in place to generate revenues so we could pay off what we owe. But they [the government] is making it impossible for us to do that,” he said.

Earlier, Neocleous told state radio that “the government cannot play both sides. They are choking the company, and then pretend to have resurrected the dead.”

And he suggested the Transport Ministry was now going after Celestia to put the squeeze on ajet.

In a further twist, the company is seeking at least £1 million from the government for losses incurred due to delays in approving its name-change (from Helios Airways) and a new Air Operators Certificate (AOC).

Speaking to the Mail, Neocleous denied ajet had ever contemplated declaring bankruptcy, but added:

“By its actions, the government could drive us there.”

Helios Airways dropped the Athens route immediately after the August 14 crash, finally handing back its Heathrow slot in the middle of January this year.

It kept its hard-won slot at Luton but dealt mainly in charter seats and online bookings.

The accident cost mother company Libra £5 million plus another £18 million the group wrote off in goodwill as a result of the accident, which resulted in group losses up until the end of October 2005 of £23.69 million compared to a profit of £2.58 million in the same period in 2004.

In the months following the accident, there was speculation in the media that the airline enjoyed preferential treatment from Civil Aviation, and that the two were covering each other’s back in relation to the air crash. The mood began to shift after the publication of the accident report, which said “operational deficiencies” in ajet were an underlying cause of the crash. Civil Aviation was not held directly responsible.

The Boeing 737-300 jet suffered loss of pressure, knocking the pilots unconscious due to lack of oxygen. The plane flew on autopilot for hours before running out of fuel and slamming into a ravine 50km outside Athens. All 121 people on board were killed.

The fact-finding report attributed the disaster primarily to pilot error. Design omissions by aircraft manufacturers Boeing were also cited as one of the latent causes, despite a recommendation by the US National Transportation Safety Board that this be downgraded to a “contributing factor.”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[cornwallis]

When are Excel taking over and will they still fly the Luton route?I have a friend in Cyprus who is very keen to know!

[groundhogbhx]

Excel have already started on the BHX route, noted an XLA408 in place of the old Ajet flight no. the other night

[LGS6753]

Excel have been operating the Luton routes more-or-less since AJet finished.
I don't think it's confirmed beyond January yet, though.

[Powerjet1]

LGS6753

As far as I am aware, this only happened until last Monday. Don't think they or anyone else has served the route since.

[big fraidy cat]

Here's a bit of an update about the grounded ajet plane. However, this article says that the employees are out of work, not working for Excel.


Deal allows ajet plane to take off
By Elias Hazou

EMBATTLED ajet and the government have reached a deal allowing the airline’s grounded plane to leave the island.

The development eased a standoff that began two weeks ago, when the Transport Ministry had secured an interim order to keep ajet’s fleet on the ground.
It was intended as a pressure lever on the company, which the government says owes it some £2.1 million in arrears.

According to the airline, the government placed impossible conditions on it, such as demanding the money immediately.

Meanwhile the Attorney-general’s office had filed an injunction with a Larnaca court to seize the airline’s remaining plane, which ajet is leasing from owners Celestial, an Irish concern.
The 737-800 jet was finally cleared for takeoff yesterday morning, heading out for London.
The government had also moved to freeze ajet’s assets.
Complicating matters further, Celestial were being asked for £740,000 in unpaid airport fees.
The low-cost carrier protested that its immovable assets amounted to just £400,000, and that it was being stripped of the very means by which it could repay its dues.
Yesterday the Larnaca court was set to rule on the injunction; but on the eleventh hour the two sides came to an accommodation.

The government has secured a letter of guarantee from Celestial for the £740,000.
But according to ajet lawyer Christos Neocleous, this amount, which is part of the £2.1 million owed in total, will be paid only once ajet’s damages claim against Boeing is settled.
The agreement provides that if ajet win their claim against Boeing, part of the damages will go towards paying off the £2.1 million owed to the government.

If ajet loses, the government gets just the £740,000 from Celestial.
“This is what we proposed in the first place, but the government would hear nothing of it,” said Neocleous.
“Apparently they realised they’d got themselves into a dead end, so they decided to change strategy.”
Neocleous said the Transport Ministry’s hasty actions, which brought about the closure of the airline, had backfired.

“As a result of ajet’s closure, 140 people are out on the streets. Now the government is saddled with their unemployment benefits, which I assure you are no insignificant sum.
“All of this mess might have been avoided had they not shut us down. We had struck a brokerage deal with Excel to hand them our routes. That way, our employees would have kept their jobs.”

Next, Neocleous said, ajet missed out on some £1.8 million from the deposit on the plane, which they were not allowed to return to owners Celestial. Also, they had reached an agreement to sub-lease their planes, which would have generated around £800,000 a year.
“In their haste to shut us down and gratify public sentiment, the government made a hash of things. Now we want compensation for all this income lost. And yes, we plan to sue the government sometime in the coming weeks.”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006

[irishcc]

Excel are currently in Larnaca to interview the AJet Cabin Crew -I believe they will comence flying from LCA on December 1st !

[glider12000]

i was one of the initial crews sent down to work on the first rescue flight. Have to report the passengers were glad to be flying home and had no problems with them.

Thanks for the further updates, should i find out anything further on this subject i`ll post it back here.