Small Planet Airlines (Vilnius) is to be taken over by an investment group led by the carrier’s management team, after Avia Solutions Group (ASG) sold off its 95.5% stake in Small Planet Airlines and subsidiary Small Planet Airlines Polska (Warsaw Chopin). The development now means ASG no longer have a controlling stake in any charter carrier after it disposed of all its shares in Small Planet Airlines Estonia (Tallinn Lennart Meri) in 2011 before cutting its stake in Small Planet Airlines Italia (Rome Fiumicino) to 35% in early 2012. According to ASG CEO Linas Dovydenas, the buyout will help breathe new life into the carrier, which has grown to become the largest charter airline in the Baltic States. For its part, ASG said the ownership of Small Planet was part of a broader long term strategy to aide in the group’s Baltic region expansion plans, which will now see it focusing on the MRO, ground handling and aviation training sectors in Eastern Europe and Russia.