While private jet charters provide a fundamentally different service than a commercial airline, both are affected by a market in which jet fuel costs have more than doubled from a year ago and travelers are also watching their spending more carefully.
Private charter operators that serve the top percent of earners have an inherently smaller client base and can sometimes find that their business model does not pan out when they are unable to bring in the necessary traffic.
Air Mountain, a small charter airline that flew into ski resorts in The Alps from cities like Geneva and London, filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2026. U.S.-based charter seaplane airline Tailwind Air also lost its air operator’s certificate (AOC) in 2025 after branding itself as a luxury transportation company but then struggling to bring in the numbers for its seaplane flights between New York and Boston.
Limitless Aviation lost AOC license: Report
The latest carrier reported to no longer have a valid AOC license is private jet charter operator Limitless Aviation.
The AOC is the single most critical document that an airline needs in order to sell tickets to passengers while the two most common reasons for losing it are either a failed safety audit or a financial situation that puts its future viability and ability to stay in business into question.
Related: Popular travel app forced into bankruptcy and liquidation
Limitless Aviation was founded in the southern European nation of San Marino by former pilot and Italian aviation professional Goffredo Gravina. The tiny country with just over 34,000 citizens has one the highest GDP rates in the world per capita after it was developed into a micro-state financial center and tax haven in the latter half of the 20th century.
Limitless Aviation has a single Bombardier Global Express business jet on which it ran leisure and luxury business flights to San Marino from various European capitals. Over the last year, the carrier started accumulating debt over unpaid aircraft services and operating costs.
San Marino is a microstate that serves as a banking center and tax haven for high-wealth individuals.carlo alberto conti / Getty Images
Why Limitless Aviation no longer flying
Aviation publication ch-aviation is now reporting that the carrier no longer has an active AOC, without which any flights that the carrier would have had scheduled in the coming weeks are canceled by default.
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Other details about the airline’s financial state are not currently made public. Limitless Aviation could not immediately be reached for comment.
Airlines that shut down or filed bankruptcy in 2026:
Spirit Airlines: The largest airline shutdown of the year occurred when Spirit Airlines canceled all remaining flights on May 2. Although the airline had filed for Chapter 11 protection twice before, the skyrocketing price of jet fuel dealt the final blow to its operations.
Magnicharters: The Mexican low-cost airline canceled all of its flights and eventually shut down in a collapse that left thousands stranded.
Starflite Aviation: Houston-based Starflite Aviation had its AOC license revoked in March 2026, amid FAA claims that owners falsified pilot training records to bypass safety audits.
AlpAvia: Slovenian charter airline AlpAvia also shut down in March 2026 over financial problems.
Related: Another airline ends in bankruptcy, hundreds of flights off