The aviation permit for Cypriot airline hopefuls Tus has been suspended before it could make its first take off following an internal rift that led to the exit of three company officials.

The Safety Regulation Unit (SRU) of the Civil Aviation Authority decided to reverse the air operator’s certificate (AOC) for Tus Airways after it emerged that three managers, whose experience had been taken into consideration during the application process, walked out of their job on the eve of the airline’s debut flight on Sunday.

The three managers had previously been employed at defunct Cyprus Airways, which went under in early 2014. The flight operations director, the ground operations director, and her assistant, have all walked out citing “personal differences”.

Civil Aviation will not allow any planes to take off if Tus Airways does not first fill the vacant positions accordingly.

Tus Airways had a flight scheduled on Sunday Valentine’s Day, from Larnaca to Tel Aviv, while nine weekly flights had been scheduled on to SAAB 340B, with 34 and 36 seats respectively.

The new company, which has set up headquarters in Larnaca, was to fill in a void created by the collapse of the island’s ex-national carrier Cyprus Airways. Tus was initially aiming at short flights to neighbouring countries.

More details on the departure of the three managers were not immediately available.