GP Aviation Founder Detained in €9M Tax Investigation
GP Aviation founder arrested and extradited to Germany over alleged €9 million unpaid air traffic taxes linked to 50 offences between 2021 and 2025.
Jishan Khan 
The Founder of GP Aviation Has Been Arrested and Extradited to Germany Over EUR 9 Million in Unpaid Air Taxes
The Swiss-Italian founder of Bulgarian carrier GP Aviation was arrested on April 15, 2026 at the North Macedonia-Bulgaria border and extradited to Germany, where prosecutors allege he failed to pay at least EUR 9 million in air traffic taxes across 50 offences between January 2021 and February 2025.
He was not hard to find. He walked into the border crossing himself.
How the Arrest Happened
German authorities had been hunting the executive since January 2026 with an international arrest warrant, and he was stopped at the Gyueshevo border crossing while attempting to enter Bulgaria from North Macedonia. Bulgarian courts approved the extradition quickly, and he reportedly agreed to the transfer voluntarily. Four years of alleged offences, a Europe-wide arrest warrant, and in the end no dramatic chase, just a border stop on an ordinary crossing.
What Germany Is Actually Alleging
The charge is not about late payments or accounting errors. It is about systematic non-compliance across four years. Under German regulations, airlines are required to register and account for air traffic taxes themselves, unlike in some markets where the process runs automatically through booking systems or third parties. That self-reporting structure creates an obvious gap, and prosecutors allege GP Aviation's founder exploited it deliberately across 50 separate cases. At EUR 9 million minimum, that works out to roughly EUR 180,000 per alleged offence on average.
Who GP Aviation Actually Serves
This is not a major network carrier. GP Aviation is based in Sofia, operates with a strong focus on Pristina, and mainly serves diaspora routes between Kosovo and Western Europe, primarily Germany and Switzerland. Its passengers are largely Kosovan communities in those countries flying home to visit family, not corporate travellers with flexible alternatives. The airline has not publicly commented on the allegations, which means the people most affected, its passengers — are left with no clarity on what happens to their routes if the legal case deepens.
The accused is presumed innocent. But the warrant had been live since January, and the case now moves to German courts.
