Help centre · For airline owners

Handing the airline to a new owner

Watch the video: Handing over or starting again

This article explains how to hand your airline to someone else, and what changes for you and for them.

The owner holds the airline's staff roles and the right to close it. There is one owner at a time.

Before you start

The new owner must be an active pilot at your airline. If they aren't yet, ask them to join first.
Only the current owner can make the offer.
One account can own at most 2 airlines. You can't offer the airline to someone who already owns 2, and they can't accept while they do.
You may want to download a copy of the airline's data first. See Exporting your airline's data.

Send the offer

Open Staff → Airline settings → Settings, go to the Danger zone tab and press Transfer ownership. The Ownership and data page opens. (Hand it over first on your Profile, next to the airline, leads there too.)
In the Hand the airline over card, pick the pilot in New owner.
Type your airline's ICAO code in the confirmation box.
Press Send the offer.

Nothing changes until they accept. They get an email with a link and have 7 days to answer.

While the offer is open, the card shows who it's for and until when. Press Withdraw the offer to cancel it. You can only have one open offer at a time, so withdraw it before offering the airline to someone else.

If the list is empty, the airline has no other active pilots to hand it to yet.

Accepting the offer

The new owner opens the link in the email and signs in. The page asks if they want to take over the airline, with two buttons:

Accept ownership: they tick that they agree to the Terms as the airline's owner, and become the owner straight away.
Decline: nothing changes, and you get an email saying they declined.

The offer stops working after 7 days, when it has been withdrawn, or if the airline has changed owner in the meantime. They must still be an active pilot of the airline when they accept.

What changes after the handover

For the new owner:

They can do everything at the airline, including the Ownership and data page.

For you:

You stay on as staff with the Airline admin role. That covers every staff permission.
You get an email confirming the handover.
The new owner can change your roles or remove your staff access, like for any other staff member. See Staff roles and permissions.

Every step (the offer, a withdrawal, a decline, the handover) is recorded in the airline's activity log.

A deputy owner

You can name one deputy owner: someone who can take the airline over if you disappear. It's optional.

Naming a deputy. On the Ownership and data page, in the Deputy owner card, pick one of your active staff members and press Name the deputy. Pick someone else and press Change the deputy to change it, or press Remove the deputy. Your deputy gets an email each time, and it's recorded in the activity log. Only staff can be the deputy, so give them a staff role first.

When your deputy can take over. Only if you don't sign in for 60 days. Signing in on the website, using it while signed in, or signing in to ACARS all count.

After about 46 days, you get an email: your deputy can take over in 14 days.
After about 53 days, a second email: 7 days left.
From day 60, and only if both emails were sent, your deputy sees Take over ownership. They type the airline's ICAO code, agree to the Terms as owner, and press it. Nothing happens unless they do.

To stop it, sign in. That's all: the count starts again from your sign-in, and both emails would be sent again before any takeover. If the emails went out late, the takeover waits until 7 days after the second one.

After a takeover, it works like a normal handover: your deputy becomes the owner, and you stay on as staff with the Airline admin role. You both get an email, and it's in the activity log. If it was a mistake, ask the new owner to hand the airline back, or contact the platform team.

For the deputy. The staff overview shows that you're the deputy owner, with a link to the Deputy owner page. It shows how long the owner has been away and, once it's open, the Take over ownership button. You must still be an active staff member.

Handing the airline over to anyone (with an offer or by a takeover) clears the deputy: the new owner names their own.

When the owner is gone and there's no deputy

If the owner hasn't signed in for 90 days and the airline has no deputy owner who could take over, a staff member with the Airline admin role can ask to adopt the airline. The staff overview shows them a link to Adopt the airline.

They write why (optional), type the airline's ICAO code and press Ask to take over. Only one request can wait at a time.
The owner gets an email straight away, and a reminder about 23 days later. A Refuse link in the email works with one click, without signing in. Signing in at all (on the website or in ACARS) cancels the request by itself.
After 30 days without either, a Vaeroly administrator looks at the request and approves or declines it.

If it's approved, it works like a normal handover: the person who asked becomes the owner, and the old owner stays on as staff with the Airline admin role. Pilots keep all their flights, hours and history. Everyone involved gets an email, and every step (asked, refused, cancelled, withdrawn, approved, declined) is in the activity log. After a refusal, nobody can ask again for 30 days.

Owners: the simplest way to never be adopted is to name a deputy owner, or just sign in now and then.

Leaving or deleting your account

While you own an airline you can't leave it, and you can't delete your Vaeroly account. Hand the airline over first.

If nobody can take it over and you want the airline closed, contact the platform team. Owners can't close an airline themselves on the site.

When the platform team deletes an airline, it's hidden straight away and a copy of its data is kept. It's deleted for good 30 days later; until then the platform team can restore it. Download your own copy first: see Exporting your airline's data.