A new operating carrier will probably have to be found for the planned charter flights from Akureyri to the United Kingdom under the Niceair brand. The UK Civil Aviation Authority has rejected the application for route rights for charter flights.
so far could only one announced flight can be operated one way, because there was no permission to carry passengers on the return flight. Niceair presented the situation in such a way that a few formalities that had not been considered because of Brexit were missing. The fact that one does not meet the requirements for obtaining a necessary permit was kept secret.
Unlike other virtual airlines, Niceair is a small Icelandic airline. This is more specialized in sightseeing flights and domestic connections with very small aircraft. A machine of the type Airbus A319 could not currently be taken to the AOC, as this would first have to be expanded. So they looked for a charter airline, Hifly Malta, to fly under the Niceair brand.
But that is exactly what the United Kingdom's civil aviation authority sees as a problem: Iceland and the UK do not belong to the European Union, so Niceair would have to commission either an Icelandic AOC holder or one from the United Kingdom as an operating carrier. The EU airline Hifly Malta, on the other hand, does not comply with the regulations according to the UK authority. Of course, it would have been different before Brexit, but the United Kingdom's exit from the EU also meant that the clocks in aviation were turned back in many respects.
It is currently unclear what Niceair will do now. The virtual airline is silent on the UK debacle. Even if the owner company flies almost exclusively within Iceland, at least their nominated persons should have known that flights between Iceland and the United Kingdom have no longer been allowed to be operated by EU airlines since Brexit. This does not apply to special permits. The Civil Aviation Authority sees no reason to make exceptions for "a few charter flights".
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