Baltia Airline, the company that has never operated a flight

An American airline, founded in 1989 with the intention of providing high quality service to passengers, has just taken its only aircraft out of service, as it has never operated a commercial flight in the 27 years since it was inaugurated, writes the Telegraph. Baltia Airline has started with a great promise, as it aimed to provide the only direct flight from New York to St. Petersburg. However, no passenger has traveled on board of the company's plane. 

The airline, which was supposed to operate flights from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), has another office in Michigan’s Willow Run Airport. The company claims that it is still waiting for permission to operate, permission that must be offered by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) after 27 years. Balta claims it failed all seven FAA assessment of the past. The company claims that the operations moved to Michigan, where it is easier to get FAA permissions when compared to New York.

But before this airshow went ahead, Baltia issued a statement which claimed it was sponsoring the event and it would soon be the “leading US airline in the trans-Atlantic market”. This press statement also came with a disclaimer which read: “This service is subject to receipt of government operating authority.”

The airline’s latest statement in May said it was in continued talks with “various investment groups to raise the necessary capital for operating expenses and to secure leases for newer aircraft” and ultimately help speed up the certification process. “Launching Baltia has been a long and tedious process; I want all of our shareholders to be assured that the team at Baltia is working diligently to accomplish our goal of launching Baltia,” Russell Thal, the president of Baltia, said in a statement.