SkyGreece temporarily ceases all operations

Frustrated passengers left stranded and without answers following the cancellation of SkyGreece Airlines flights to and from Toronto finally have some news – though not likely the kind they were hoping to hear.

“SkyGreece has announced it is temporarily ceasing operations,” a tweet sent by Toronto Pearson International Airport Thursday night said.
“SkyGreece passengers are advised to contact (the) airline.”

  

A release issued by the airline Thursday confirms the airport's tweet.
“SkyGreece management regrets to announce that it must temporarily cease all operations,” the release reads.

The update comes after the airline cancelled flights to and from Pearson Wednesday and Thursday.
“SkyGreece Airlines would like to apologize to all of its passengers who have been affected as a result of the company’s current operational crisis,” the statement adds.

“The founders, managers and employees of SkyGreece care deeply about their passengers and have been working around the clock to resolve the problem.”

The problem, according to the release, stems from ‘financial setbacks as a result of the Greek economic crisis.’

Technical issues have led to the multi-day, system-wide delays that are now being experienced, the company said.

The company recommends passengers contact their travel agents to make alternate arrangements.
These latest cancellations come after a flight departing from Pearson was delayed for four days last week.

As a result, angry travellers have taken to social media to air their grievances about the recent issues with the fledgling airline, which began operating in 2014.

A Facebook group called “SkyGreece Troubles” has surfaced online, with dozens of complaints from SkyGreece customers.

As of Thursday night, SkyGreece had not responded to CP24’s request for comment. The company's Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been taken down.

Aris Sideratos, the owner of travel agency SkyWay Tours Ltd., said the last two days have been "very hectic" for some of his clients.

“We have absolutely no clue of what’s going to happen to all the passengers," he told CP24 earlier Thursday.

Sideratos said he was apprehensive about booking with the airline given how new they are to the industry.

"I’ve been in this business a long time and it is very difficult to operate an airline with one aircraft," he said.

"We were skeptical from the beginning but on the other hand if somebody, a customer, walks into your office and wants to fly with SkyGreece because the prices were very, very affordable compared to other airlines, we have to sell them. We are travel agents and we sell all the airlines."

Iraqi Airways has been banned from the European Air Space

Iraqi Airways has been banned from the European Union (EU) and four other European nations following a series of alleged safety lapses and inability to provide documentation to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Iraqi Airways was notified of the ban on July 16, but only came to light over the weekend after the Swedish Transport Agency barred the Iraqi flag carrier from its airspace.
The European move came after Iraqi Airways last year applied for a Third Country Operator (TCO) authorization from EASA, a permit required for airlines based outside the EU, but operating traffic in one or more of its member states.

The TCO system is being introduced to simplify permission for non-EU carriers to operate within the 28-nation EU plus the four European Free Trade Association nations of Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Instead of each non-EU airline having to apply to each national aviation regulator within the EU, It submits a single application to EASA.

EASA letter
In a July 16 letter from EASA executive director Patrick Ky to Iraqi Airways’ CEO Osama Al-Sadir—seen by ATW—the EASA chief said that initial analysis of data from Iraqi Airways had led the agency to request a “technical consultation meeting” in Cologne in the spring.

As a precursor to the meeting, documentation such as operational manuals had to be submitted to EASA. Iraqi Airways had failed to provide this documentation, Ky said.

“Furthermore, after the receipt of your TCO application, EASA has received credible and specific safety reports containing examples of alleged failures to comply with applicable international (ICAO) safety standards by Iraqi Airways and the Iraqi CAA.”

ATW understands from unidentified sources that 600 non-EU airlines had applied for TCO authorization. Most had been granted with few problems, but a small number of airlines were subject to greater scrutiny because of their perceived high-risk status.

Stranded passengers
He said the decision to ban Iraqi Airways was not merely because of failures to supply documentation, but concerns over multiple reported safety issues. The decision to ban Iraqi Airways was not taken lightly “because we know it will have an operational impact.”
It is believed, for example, that several hundred Iraqi Airways passengers in Sweden are now unable to take their planned flights home.


In an Aug. 5 letter to Iraqi Airways revoking its traffic permit, Simon Posluk, head of the Market, Environment and Analysis Unit in the Swedish Transport Agency’s Civil Aviation and Maritime Department said the ban applied to aircraft registered on Iraqi Airways’ air operator’s certificate.
The agency “would … be prepared to consider applications for the use of wet-leased aircraft with necessary authorization.”

A UK Civil Aviation Authority spokesman confirmed Iraqi Airways could use wet-leased aircraft to continue its services to the UK, but that applications would have to be made to individual regulators for approval.