HelloJets

Is HelloJets safe?

On its record so far, yes. HelloJets has had no accident since it was set up in 2021, it holds an EU certificate from Romania, and it has passed the IATA Operational Safety AuditIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. We score it 78. Its jets are some of the oldest flown by any EU wet-lease airline, its record is short, and part of its business has been flying in and out of Israel.

You will rarely book HelloJets by name. Most of its flying is ACMI work: airlines rent its aircraft with pilots, cabin crew, maintenance and insurance and sell the seats as their own. If your booking says "operated by HelloJets", this is the record that applies to your flight.

Where did HelloJets come from?

The company was founded in February 2021 by Cristian Rada, then owner of Blue Air, and received its Romanian certificate that summer. Its only aircraft at first was a 32-year-old 737-300 leased from Blue Air that never entered service. Rada's family company passed the shares to a new owner in June 2022, and BoardingPass reported in October 2023 that a firm registered in Malta had taken HelloJets over. Tudor Constantinescu, formerly of AirConnect, has run it since August 2023.

Growth came fast after that. HelloJets had two aircraft in 2022, three in 2023 and ten by August 2026, when it called itself the largest independent narrowbody operator in Romania. It reported revenue of 487.1 million lei and a profit of 35.8 million lei for 2025. It has its own maintenance arm, Care4Jets, and a training school.

Who does it fly for?

The list changes every season. A 737-700 began flying for AeroItalia at the end of 2022, and HelloJets has also flown for Wizz Air and Marabu (2023), SunExpress (six months in 2024) and LOT (from December 2024). From Czech airports it flies holiday charters for a large local tour operator. In 2025 it flew A320s for the Israeli airline Israir. Since spring 2026 one of its A320s has flown for TAROM, and in summer 2026 another wet-lease A320 came from Avion Express.

What is on its record?

Nothing serious that we could find. The Aviation Safety Network and AeroInside list no accident or incident for HelloJets, and the Romanian aviation press, which follows the company closely, has reported none.

The one event that made headlines was not about the aircraft. On a night flight from Tel Aviv to Bucharest in September 2025, around 30 passengers took part in a brawl on board, and Romanian police met the aircraft. Fights between passengers are outside our incidents score, which looks at the airline's own operation.

As with other young wet-lease airlines, a short and quiet record proves less than a long one. Romania's investigators publish few reports in English, and HelloJets' crews fly in a different country and for a different client almost every season.

How old are the planes?

This is the weak point. HelloJets owns or leases one 737-700, six 737-800s and three A320s, and every one came second-hand. BoardingPass put the average age of nine of them at 20 years. The tenth, a 737-800 that last flew for Air Europa, was built in 2008. The 737NG and A320 are proven types with good records, and well-maintained 20-year-old jets fly safely every day, but they are older than the fleets of most EU airlines, and the 737 does not have fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary controls. HelloJets says it has EASA approval for base maintenance on the 737NG.

Who oversees it?

The Romanian Civil Aeronautical Authority issued certificate RO-078 and applies EASA rules. The FAA rates Romania Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary, and HelloJets received US and Canadian permits in 2024. It is on IATA's member list, which requires IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. That gives an oversight score of 90, the level we give EU airlines with IOSA, such as Heston Airlines.

Before you fly HelloJets

• Check the operator, not just the flight number. TAROM and AeroItalia tickets can put you on a HelloJets aircraft; compensation still goes through the airline that sold the ticket.
• On flights to Israel, read the EASA conflict-zone bulletins and your government's advice first. Tel Aviv closed for long periods in 2025 and 2026, and wet-lease airlines are often asked to fill the gap.

How we scored it

Oversight (90) is EU-level with IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary, and the accident record (86) is clean but short. The fleet (50), about 20 years old on average, costs the most, followed by a network that reaches Israel (62). Incidents score 80 because we found none, in a thin public record.