Foundation as FlyLAL Charters of flyLAL Charters in 2008 The company was previously known as FlyLAL Charters and was registered on 14 March 2007. In October 2008, the company received its operational licenses to begin passenger flight operations. In 2009, a subsidiary,
flyLAL Charter Eesti, was registered with an aim to provide chartered operations to and from
Estonia. In December 2009, another company,
flyLAL Charters PL, was registered to implement flights from various airports in
Poland (
Warsaw,
Katowice,
Gdansk as bases). In 2010, FlyLAL Charters was authorized to perform scheduled flights to
Greece,
Spain,
Italy and various other countries. In July of the same year, flyLAL Charters was rebranded to its current name, Small Planet Airlines. In 2009 and 2010, FlyLAL Charters carried 400,000 passengers; in 2012, the renamed Small Planet Airlines had increased the number to nearly 0.7 million passengers.
Later developments In April 2013, Small Planet Airlines announced a buyout of the 99.5 percent of Small Planet Airlines UAB (Lithuania) and Small Planet Airlines Sp. z o. o."(Poland) shares held by Avia Solutions Group. After the transaction, Small Planet Airlines was owned by Vytautas Kaikaris and Andrius Staniulis, the management of the company. In 2014, holding company Small Planet Group was established to take ownership of the Small Planet Airlines of Lithuania and
Poland. Small Planet Group UAB owns 100 percent of the shares of the leisure carrier Small Planet Airlines UAB and 90 percent of the shares of Small Planet Airlines Sp. z o. o. The holding controls 100% of UAB Small Planet Airlines, 100%
Small Planet Airlines Sp. z o. o., 80% of
Small Planet Airlines GmbH (Germany) and used to own 49% of
Small Planet Airlines Thailand, which however never started operations. In December 2014, Small Planet Airlines founded a company in Thailand, with the intention of securing a local
air operator's certificate (AOC) and operating international flights from
Thailand to
China and
South Korea. In 2015, Small Planet Airlines entered the German market with the incorporation of Small Planet Airlines GmbH; the company's office was established in
Berlin. In September 2015, the company announced that during the next 5 winters, several aircraft (and flight deck crews) will be transferred to the Southeast Asia to operate from
Siem Reap town in Cambodia to China, South Korea and Vietnam on behalf of Cambodian airline
Sky Angkor Airlines. During the 2016, winter season, several planes and crews of Small Planet Airlines Poland were based in
India and Saudi Arabia and operated on behalf of local airlines. In India, the planes and crew were operated on behalf of
GoAir and in Saudi Arabia, the planes and crew operated on behalf of
Nesma Airlines. At the end of March 2017, it was announced that Small Planet Airlines had obtained a permit to fly to and from Schiphol Airport in the
Netherlands, mainly serving south European holiday destinations. The inaugural flight was welcomed at Schiphol Airport in December, 2016. During winter 2017/2018 Small Planet Airlines was back in India operating on behalf of
IndiGo from its main base in Delhi. On 24 October 2018, Small Planet Airlines announced it was entering a restructuring process due to financial difficulties shortly after its
German and
Polish subsidiaries did the same earlier in the month. Both the German and Polish companies ceased operations by November 2018, while the Cambodian subsidiary ceased operations shortly after. On 28 November 2018, the Lithuanian aviation authority CAA revoked the operations license of Small Planet Airlines, resulting in grounding of all of its flights and fleets. ==Business trends==