An airline that succeeded Helios Airways, the company behind one of Europe's worst aviation disasters, was grounded by the Cypriot government today until liability issues are resolved.

The maiden flight of ajet, a low-cost charter operator which will use Helios's planes and crew, was due to take place today to the Greek island of Rhodes.

But Haris Thrasou, the Transport Minister, said that ajet's application for a licence had been shelved until the attorney general's office clears the airline of any outstanding liability issues from Helios. He added that he had ordered an investigation into how the airline managed to schedule the flight without a state-approved licence.

“Since certain conditions had not been fulfilled, it was natural this flight could not be carried out,” said Mr Thrasou, adding that ajet could not fly under the same operators licence used by Helios.

Before today's cancellation, Libra, a Cypriot-listed holding company behind both airlines, insisted that ajet was a separate operation from Helios. Libra has dismissed suggestions that the changeover to a charter operation by ajet was prompted by the negative publicity after the fatal crash.

All 121 people on board Helios Airways flight No. 522 died in August last year when the low-cost airline’s Boeing 737-300 crashed into the hills near Athens, after the plane apparently lost cabin pressure, strayed off course and eventually ran out of fuel.

When contacted, representatives of ajet declined to comment. Relatives of the air disaster’s victims said they would have been concerned had the flight gone ahead.

Greek authorities are expected to release their findings about the accident in April.

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