TUI Group airline to liquidate and shut down over jet fuel costs

Multiple smaller airlines have initiated insolvency proceedings in the last months of 2026 as the price of jet fuel shows no signs of easing.

Romanian airline Animawings, Mexican holiday carrier Magnicharters, and Spanish holiday airline AlbaStar are just among some of the names abruptly canceled all of their flights after running up heavy debts and being unable to meet their financial obligations in recent weeks.

Fly4 Airlines Green, an Irish aviation company that launched from a partnership with Poland’s Enter Air and German holiday giant TUI Group in 2023, has become the latest name to join that list; on Nov. 11, the airline registered out of Dublin Airport (DUB) petitioned the Irish High Court to put it in a state of provisional liquidation.

Fly4 Airlines granted provisional liquidation by Irish High Court

Under Irish law, the emergency procedure can be requested to preserve assets when insolvency is on the horizon and a winding-up petition has been presented.

Rather than operating as an independent airline, Fly4 had a fleet of four Boeing 737-800 planes that it wet-leased to charter airlines in different parts of the world. As first reported by the Irish Times, all four of the carrier’s planes are currently under lease arrangements in Germany, Belgium and Türkiye.

In a letter presented to the court, Fly4 Chief Financial Officer Douglas Fay said that the €1.1 million loss that the airline brought in during the first nine months of 2026 “fell materially short of expectations […and] was due to the impact of the U.S.–Iran war and the increased fuel costs associated with it.”

The airline had also operated at a loss of approximately €4 million in 2025, which made its finances snowball in a way that eventually left it with no other choice but bankruptcy.

Fly4 Airlines leased Boeing 737-800 planes to carriers like SpiceJet.

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What is happening with Fly4 Airlines in November 2026

Judge Brian Cregan appointed Mark Degnan and Brendan O’Reilly of financial advisory firm Interpath as the joint provisional liquidators overseeing the case. As a result of the insolvency process, the Boeing 737-800 planes have been grounded and any flights that may have been scheduled on them called off.

Other airlines that filed for bankruptcy in 2026:

Flamingo Air and Aerodiana: The regional airlines with large client bases among tourists to the Bahamas and Peru, respectively, currently have suspended AOCs after fatal accidents in their home countries that took place in July 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.
Magnicharters: The Mexican low-cost airline ended up canceling all flights and filing for bankruptcy in a shutdown that left thousands stranded.
Starflite Aviation: The Houston-based carrier had its AOC license revoked in March 2026, amid FAA claims that owners falsified pilot training records to bypass safety audits.
AlpAvia: The Slovenian charter airline also shut down in March 2026 due to financial problems.

Some of the commercial airlines leasing planes from Fly4 include Indian budget carrier SpiceJet and German holiday airline Sundair. It is not immediately clear if any flights scheduled on client airlines have had to be canceled as a result of a partner’s financial collapse. Fly4 Airlines itself had not been selling tickets to the general public.

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Fly4 Airlines is also reported to have had 20 employees, of which 12 were based in Ireland and eight out of the UK, while 80 others worked for it as air crew through other airlines.

Tui Group, which held a 49% stake in the airline, could not be immediately reached for comment on the situation. Enter Air, which held a 51% stake, could also not be reached.