Whereas numerous licensing and authorized necessities must be secured by an airline wishing to take passengers off the bottom, probably the most important one is the Air Operator’s Certificates (AOC). This working license, required for each airline, is handed out by the aviation regulatory authority of a given nation.
In america, it’s granted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and requires the airline firm to show that it has the required planes, employees, security techniques and monetary sources to be a functioning airline.
Equal companies that grant AOC licenses in different international locations embody the Civil Aviation Authority in the UK, Transport Canada, and Route générale de l’aviation civile in France. Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA) numbers present that about 30 new airways acquired AOCs in 2024, a quantity barely decrease than in previous years as a result of financial downturn.
After chapter of father or mother firm, SmartLynx Estonia loses AOC license
An airline can even lose its AOC over a failed security audit or when it’s pressured to close down in chapter. Worldwide airways whose AOC licenses had been just lately suspended or revoked after winding down operations within the final yr embody Armenian Airways, Jet.Paris, and Passaredo in Brazil, ch-aviation reported.
Different airline bankruptcies in 2025:
- Spirit Airways (Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc.): Filed for Chapter 11 chapter for the second time on August 29,2025.
- Ravn Alaska: Ceased operations in August 2025 after earlier Chapter 11 proceedings; shut down flights and folded into different operations corresponding to New Pacific.
- Company Air: Filed for Chapter 11 chapter (restructuring) in September 2025 as a part of a deliberate sale, based on Bondoro.
- Play Airways: The Reykjavik-based airline shut down operations and entered involuntary chapter in September 2025.
- Braathens Airways:Pressured to file for chapter and canceled all flights in September 2025.
In November 2025, Lithuanian aviation firm Aviation Options Group ended up shutting down all operations of the SmartLynx airline, based on FlightGlobal, amid plans to consolidate and dump the totally different European branches of the constitution and cargo airline.
Three AOCs for Latvia, Estonia, and Malta had been subsequently bought off to Dutch hedge-fund firm Stichting Break Level.
Associated: One other regional airline shuts down and cancels all flights, some stranded
Whereas the airline has not operated any flights because it undergoes a court docket restructuring, its future has now been formally cemented, with Estonian authorities revoking the AOC of the SmartLynx Airways department within the nation on Dec. 18, ch-aviation reported.
SmartLynx Latvia was based in 2012 out of Tallinn with planes supplied by the broader SmartLynx Estonia father or mother firm. After a long time of working as a wet-lease service with greater than 120 planes, the latter entered chapter proceedings with over €522,000 in tax and credit score debt, based on Aerospace World Information.
SmartLynx Latvia was based in 1993 as a constitution and ACMI airline.
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The downfall of the SmartLynx model: rising debt and low liquidity
Greater than €125,000 of SmartLynx’s debt was owed by the father or mother firm to the now-defunct Estonian department.
With the restructuring course of anticipated to take months, not less than 120 pilots, flight attendants, and different airline workers have been left with out jobs, alongside any passengers affected by canceled flights.
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When the airline introduced its chapter final November, a few of the SmartLynx workers reported not receiving their ultimate paycheck and having to ebook their very own airplane tickets residence after being left stranded in international locations corresponding to Vietnam.
“As of today, we will be ceasing our commercial operations,” SmartLynx Airways mentioned in a Nov. 25 assertion.
“This decision comes after a thorough assessment of our situation and long-term outlook, and it was not taken lightly. We started as a small Latvian airline with big dreams, and over 33 years grew into an international family known for resilience, adaptability, and a spirit that never backed down.”
Associated: Struggling airline recordsdata for Chapter 11 chapter
