If an airline does not voluntarily file for bankruptcy, it may also lose its Air Operator Certificate (AOC) due to its financial condition.
In the United States, certificates granting airlines permission to sell and operate flights are issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and require the holder to demonstrate that they have the aircraft, employees, safety systems and financial resources necessary to operate the airline on a long-term basis.
Most recently, charter airline Tailwind Air lost its AOC in January 2025 after struggling to get necessary traffic on routes between Northeastern cities such as New York and Boston.
Houston-based charter airline Starflite Aviation has been canceled after regulators accused the company’s owners of falsifying flight records of pilots it hired to bypass safety inspections.
In December 2025, charter airline H-Bird lost its AOC when it was revoked by Swedish aviation regulator Transportstyrelsen due to poor financial conditions.
According to ch-aviation, the airline has been officially declared bankrupt by a local judge. H-Bird was founded in Stockholm in 1991 and has operated corporate, charter and ambulance flights to remote areas of Sweden and nearby Nordic cities for more than three decades using a fleet of Cessna aircraft.
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While few details about the privately held company’s finances have been made public, H-Bird may struggle to find enough high-spending travelers to book the necessary flights to cover the high cost of air travel.
The airline has not operated any flights since January 2026 after losing its AOC. It’s unclear whether the airline will have time to seek investors and restructure or be liquidated outright. Unless he eventually regains his license, he will not be able to fly in the near future.
“Our aircraft can carry up to eight passengers and offer personalized service and first-class food on board,” H-Bird currently writes on its website in original Swedish. “With convenient bases in Broma, Norrkoping and Oslo, we fly throughout the Nordic region and Europe. We offer door-to-door transportation and our experienced pilots will get you where you want to go.”
