AirLituanica was a Lithuanian airline established in May 2013, which met its closure on 22nd of May 2015. Recently an investigation looking into AirLituanica‘s financing and bankruptcy revealed new information suggesting that the carrier could have lived through all those years and become profitable in 2019 (a year earlier than estimated by Lufthansa Consulting).
The Investigation
On 11 June 2019, the Public Prosecutor‘s office concluded an investigation into its bankruptcy citing that it had not found illegal practices in AirLituanica‘s funding and operations. However the investigation report did say: "It should be noted that the decision of Vilnius City Municipality to terminate the activity of UAB AirLituanica was not due to the fact that company reached the state of insolvency, but because of the changed will of the newly elected Vilnius City Council not to implement the adopted decision, that is to no longer finance UAB AirLituanica.“
This statement proves that the talks about failing airline were just a trick to make public look at the airline negatively and forget about it and its expansion plans.
The report also shows that Vilnius City Municipality, as a stakeholder, did not make the decision to terminate AirLituanica, but in fact that decision was made by mayor R. Šimašius and his public relations team. This has been confirmed by a conversation of the mayor and his team that was leaked to the public.
Now, following the investigation's release, UAB Vilniaus šilumos tinklai, have a right to request compensation from key people involved in closure of AirLituanica, who were outlined by the Public Prosecutor‘s office.
If the airline had met 2019 it would have had 6 aircraft, which would fly to 15 European cities, having carried over 800,000 passengers. Additionally this carrier would have made Vilnius more attractive to investors creating new jobs and increasing investments made in Lithuania and Vilnius.
Summary
It seems that AirLituanica's demise was in fact faked by (at that time) newly elected mayor, Mr R. Šimašius and his public relations team after they decided they no longer wanted to fund the carrier. By declaring it bankrupt, they were easily able to shut down the carrier without anyone knowing.
Ex-mayor of Vilnius A. Zuokas (whose initiative it was to establish AirLituanica) said, after finding out about the investigation‘s conclusions, "I would better stay in history as a mayor of Vilnius, who took the planes to the sky, and not the mayor who grounded them because of political competition and public relations.“
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