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Oct 26, 2020 (newstodate): Glimpse of good news in times of corona: a new charter and ACMI airline is under formation in Lithuania.  
   The Heston Group, headquartered in Vilnius, Lithuania, is setting up Heston Airlines aiming at providing capacity for the charter industry once the market returns, with a fleet of three Airbus A320 aircraft already sourced from a yet-undisclosed aircraft lessor.
   -We have applied for an AOC with the Lithuanian CAA and expect to complete the application process within three to four months, after which a commercial license may be landed in two months. This will allow us to start operations from around May 2021, says Valentinas Jankelaitis, Heston Airlines CCO, formerly serving with Small Planet Airlines as Commercial Director for almost 11 years until November 2018.
   -We are convinced that people will start flying again after the coronavirus pandemic, and we will enter the market with a low cost base and without the debt burdens incurred by many other airlines during this prolonged lockdown period. Our investors have confidence in our business plan, and Heston Airlines will launch business on a sound basis of experience.
   -We plan to start recruiting flight crews by January or February 2021 with five crews per aircraft to allow for optimized utilization of the fleet, and we expect to grow the fleet to seven aircraft by 2022, and up to 10 aircraft at a later stage, positioning Heston Airlines as a mid-size charter and ACMI carrier, says Mr Jankelaitis.