SmartLynx Airlines, one of Europe’s most established wet lease and charter operators, has closed down after more than three decades of operation, with the Latvia based carrier ceasing all commercial flights on 24 November 2025 following a rapid and chaotic financial collapse.
The announcement that SmartLynx Airlines was closing down came after a brief but turbulent ownership transition. In late October 2025, the airline was sold by its previous parent company Avia Solutions Group to a Dutch investment fund called Stichting Break Point Distressed Assets Management, with senior management also taking stakes in the newly independent Business. Within weeks, however, it became clear that the financial position was far worse than workable. The airline entered a court supervised restructuring process shortly after the sale, but a viable plan could not be agreed and the shutdown followed.
At the point SmartLynx Airlines closed down, the carrier was carrying debts of approximately 238 million euros. Of that total, 174 million euros was owed to other Avia Solutions Group companies, prompting some industry observers to question the nature of the sale itself. The Latvian government was also owed more than 500,000 euros in unpaid taxes. More than 1,200 employees across Europe lost their jobs almost immediately, with reports that some crew members had not received wages for up to two months before the closure and had been stranded abroad when operations stopped.
The SmartLynx Airlines closure caused serious disruption beyond its own workforce. The airline had built its business primarily around ACMI services, supplying aircraft along with crew, maintenance and insurance to major carriers including easyJet and TUI. Many passengers had flown on SmartLynx operated planes without realising it. When the shutdown was announced, partner airlines were forced to find replacement capacity at short notice. Nigerian carrier Air Peace was among the worst affected, accusing SmartLynx of withdrawing four Airbus A320 aircraft without warning during an active wet lease agreement, causing more than 15 million dollars in losses and significant disruption to its domestic network.
Founded in the early 1990s under the name LatCharter and originally operating Soviet built aircraft, SmartLynx had transformed itself into a modern, internationally active fleet operator with Airbus narrowbody aircraft and subsidiaries in Estonia, Malta and Australia. It had carried more than 10 million passengers in a single year at its peak and was considered a cornerstone of the European ACMI market. The SmartLynx Airlines shutdown removes a significant player from a sector that had already seen multiple collapses in the months before, including Braathens International Airways and PLAY in September 2025, as well as Eastern Airways and Blue Islands shortly after.