Airlines that stopped flying in 2025 (updated as of 26/12/25)
A very busy first half of the year had prevented me, until now, to compile the traditional yearly list of airlines that have stopped flying. But, I thought, having passed the equator of this year 2025, it was about time to look into it!
Again, the usual caveats apply: this is a list that is prepared and updated manually (in great part with the help and support of quite a few of you that send me tips and comments!), so I may have missed some airline bankruptcies, suspensions, etc.
There also some cases that are a bit in a grey area, such as airline rebrandings, mergers and the like. In any case, will do my best to list here the airlines that ceased operations in 2025.
You can also check the lists of airlines which stopped flying in 2024, 2023, 2022…and so on….
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi
This one was quite of unexpected, since we are regularly seeing carriers ramping up operations in the Middle East. Wizz Air announced, suddenly, in mid-July, that it was closing down its Abu Dhabi subsidiary on September 1, 2025. Wizz Air attributed the decision to a difficult operational environment, with heat and sand complicating the achievement of the desired turnaround times, as well as regulatory decisions hampering its expansion and an uncertain geopolitical situation which has led to repeated airspace closures and operational disruption.
So Wizz Air is going to focus on Europe from now on. Just in case, Air Arabia has already announced it is expanding its Abu Dhabi base.
Silver Airways (USA)
This was a rare instance of a US airline operating turboprops. Silver Airways had actually been on notice for quite some time, as its financial issues had been known for quite some time and its fleet had been greatly reduced lately. Before shutting down in June 2025, Silver Airways operated a short haul network centered in Florida.
Air Belgium (it’s complicated…)
This is one of those cases which I am not sure whether should be included here or not. Air Belgium had already given up on its scheduled passenger flight business and had been focusing since 2023 on the ACMI and cargo business. But it appears this was not enough and the airline filed for bankruptcy in September 2024. The business was subsequently acquired by French logistics group CMA CGM, which has pledged to keep the brand and part of the airline’s activity. So, it technically still exists, although, very little is left of the original project.
Bees Romania
This one was really short-lived. We covered it as one of the new airlines of 2023, but in January 2025, the Romanian authorities suspended, and shortly after revoked, its AOC. It only ever operated an Airbus A320.
SKS Airways (Malaysia)
This was a small airline, which had not been operational since 2023, but it was only in early 2025 that it was officially closed down. I must admit I had not heard about it until a reader brought it to my attention (thanks for the tip, Julia!). It operated two DHC-6 turboprop aircraft on regional routes in Malaysia and, apparently, had plans to upgauge to Embraer E2s, but this will, obviously, not happen.
Ravn Alaska (US)
This is not the first time that Ravn Alaska makes it to this list. This regional airline, which as the name implies, is serving the US Arctic state, already stopped operations in 2020. It was then rescued by a group of investors (the same group behind the Northern Pacific Airways project), but in August 2025 it ceased all operations, once more.
PLAY (Iceland)
Sadly, the second attempt to consolidate a low cost airline in Iceland has also failed (the first one, WOW, had the same fate). This is not totally unexpected, since already a few months ago the company’s management executed a radical pivot, pretty much abandoning the US market and focusing on European leisure routes. But, alas, this hasn’t been enough and on September 29, 2025, news came out that PLAY is ceasing operations. At the moment it was operating a fleet of 10 A320-family aircraft (6 A320neo and 4 A321neo).
To learn more about PLAY and its original business model you can read this 2024 interview with its previous CEO.
Braathens International Airways (Sweden)
A tough week for Nordic airlines, just a day after PLAY’s demise, Braathens announced the sudden closure of its jet-operating charter airline. As of September 2025, Braathens International Airways had two A319s and three A320s. To be fair, not a total surprise, since it had already been announced that Braathens would progressively exit the jet business, leaving only the regional operation in Scandinavia, which flies turboprops for SAS under the BRA brand.
Eastern Airways (United Kingdom)
This small British regional airline suddenly ceased all operations on October 27, 2025, and while it may still bonce back, this qualifies for entry into this list. Eastern Airways operated quite an eclectic regional fleet which ranged from BAE Jetstream 41 and ATR turboprops to Embraer E-Jets. Its route network consisted mostly in linking secondary and tertiary airports across the UK.
Blue Islands (Channel Islands)
Q4 2025 has proven to be quite brutal for British regional airlines, since shortly after the Eastern Airways’ demise, another airline, this time in the Channel Islands, also announced it was suspending operations indefinitely. Blue Islands operated a fleet of 5 ATR turboprops out of this British archipelago located just off the coast of northern France. Coincidentally, Blue Islands was supposed to supply an aircraft so that Skybus could fill in the gap left by Eastern Airways in the London to Cornwall market.
Smartlynx (Latvia)
This was, until October 2025, an ACMI and charter airline of the Avia Solutions Group. It was quite a sizable operation with more than 50 aircraft, both for passengers and cargo, so its demise has come a bit as a shock for a large part of the European aviation community. Other Smartlynx branded airlines in Thailand and Australia, however, continue to operate and will be soon rebranded.
Air Albania
This small Balkan airline suspended has stopped operating any flights on December 7th and got its operator certificate subsequently suspended. Having as one of its shareholders (with 49% of the company) a rather prominent airline (Turkish Airlines) has, apparently, not helped much when it comes to consolidating Air Albania’s small operation out of Tirana.
This is all the more remarkable when you consider that Tirana (TIA) has been one of Europe’s fastest growing airports in the last few years, as Albania has become a fashionable tourist destination (Wizz Air has capitalized on most of this growth and it is the largest air operator in Albania by far). In fact, its Turkish shareholder was said to be looking at buyers for its shares in the company. Air Albania had a single A320 in its fleet lately.
New Pacific Airlines (United States)
This one is, sadly, not a surprise, since New Pacific Airlines had been struggling to find a viable business model for quite some time. It started with big expectations as Northern Pacific Airways to link the US and Asia via Alaska (I attended its première in early 2022), but it actually never started its trans-Pancific service. The delays in its launch were attributed to the lack of permits.
One way or another, it tried to reinvent itself as a domestic carrier and it even offered itself to island territories in the Pacific to act as a local carrier improving connectivity in the region. It also had to change its name to New Pacific Airlines after a railroad with a similar name threatened to sue. In its latest incarnation, and already with its new name, New Pacific Airlines operated as a charter airline, servicing mostly groups and sports teams. It also signed an agreement with Maldives-based luxury airline BeOnd to become its US franchise in the premium market, but there was no time to test this new business model before New Pacific Airlines ran out of runway.
Flybig (India)
This is a small regional airline in India brought to my attention by a reader of this site (thank you!), which stopped flying in October and had its AOC revoked in December. Reportedly this license cancellation was prompted by a request from the leasing company owning three of the four DHC-6 Twin Otters it was operating due to payment arrears. Apparently, it had already had a similar issues in the past with the lessors of ATR turboprops it had been operating.
Angara Airlines (Russia)
This airline was operating between the Siberian city of Irkutsk, near Lake Baikal, to a handful of destinations in the remote parts of Siberia. The core of its fleet was made of An-24 aircraft, three of which crashed in the last 15 years! In fact, it was the latest of these crashes, in August 2025, in which 48 people died, that precipitated its closure. It also operated helicopters and, until 2020, it had also operated An-148 jet aircraft.
Voepass (Brazil)
This Brazilian regional airline operated a fleet of 10 ATR turboprops (both -42s and -72s). It has been operating as a franchisee of LATAM and also for a Brazilian oil company, however its last few months of operations were plagued by serious problems, which included a fatal crash in 2024, problems with payment arrears and legal issues with the Brazilian regulator, which ended up grounding the airline in March 2025.
