Romanian airline FlyLili cancels or postpones some flights

Romanian airline FlyLili recently admitted that its new aircraft have not been able to complete all the legal and administrative steps required before they can operate on various routes due to a lack of workforce. As a result, many flights were canceled or postponed indefinitely.

FlyLili's aircraft have not yet been registered with the Air Operations Center (AOC), leading to a series of cancellations and reschedulings of the company's flights.

Due to this situation, company representatives announced that all flights from Brașov are canceled until July 14, when they will resume "according to the flight schedule." Flights from Sibiu to Rome, Milan, Barcelona, Stuttgart, and Nuremberg were supposed to be operational starting July 21, but these are now postponed indefinitely.

Tickets for the five mentioned routes have been on sale since May.

"To avoid similar issues as in Brașov, we have also decided to temporarily suspend ticket sales for flights from Sibiu, where we are preparing to include a new aircraft in our operations, a process requiring the same steps. We are working intensively to revise the flight schedule of our Sibiu operational base and identify the most efficient solutions. In the coming days, our passengers will be notified of any changes or reschedulings of their flights," the company said in the press release.

The representatives blame the lack of workforce for this situation.

"The aviation industry is facing a global crisis, with the most significant issue being the lack of qualified workforce for both airlines and service providers responsible for maintenance and other support services. This has delayed the AOC registration of our aircraft beyond our initial estimates. Since deciding to launch regular flights, our team of specialists has made significant efforts to make the aircraft flight-ready, but this has not been possible. We also tried to lease other aircraft to support regular operations until our own are registered in the AOC, but unfortunately, there is no availability in Europe," stated the company's representatives in a communiqué cited by local news outlet Turnul Sfatului.

For those who have already purchased tickets, FlyLili promises either rescheduling or a full refund. The company also apologized for the inconvenience.

FlyLili started operating flights in April 2023 and currently only operates charter flights from Romania to holiday destinations in Turkey and Tunisia. Since May 20, 2023, on certain days of the week, it also operates flights from Antalya (Turkey) to destinations in Europe for the Turkish company Southwind Airlines.