Andrew and Tristan Tate were listed as passengers on two private flights operated by Toyo Aviation in 2022, according to handling documents obtained by NewsCenter.ro. The passenger manifests name five other people, excluding pilots and cabin crew. A French national appears on both trips, while the Madrid–Prague manifest also includes Bogdan-Adrian Stancu, whose name matches that of the Tate brothers’ former head of security.
The documents reviewed by NewsCenter.ro concern two flights scheduled before the Tate brothers were detained in December 2022. The first trip was planned for April 17, 2022, between Bucharest and London Biggin Hill Airport. The second appears in a request dated September 8, 2022, and concerns a Madrid–Prague flight.
The two documents name seven different passengers: Andrew Tate, Tristan Tate and five travelling companions. NewsCenter.ro is withholding their dates of birth, identity-document numbers and other personal information contained in the flight forms.
The records are requests for airport services and contain passenger lists submitted to ground-handling companies. They show who was scheduled to be on board, but do not independently certify that every person listed actually boarded the aircraft. Moreover, appearing on the same passenger manifest does not, by itself, prove a business relationship or involvement in the Tate brothers’ activities.
Bucharest–London: the Tate brothers and a French national
On April 17, 2022, a privately operated Embraer 135, registered as YR-IGP, was scheduled to fly from Bucharest’s Henri Coandă International Airport to London Biggin Hill, an airport used primarily by private aviation.
The Toyo Aviation document lists three passengers arriving in the United Kingdom:
- Emory Andrew Tate;
- Tristan Tate;
- Luke Stepan Lelias, a French national.
The aircraft was subsequently scheduled to leave Biggin Hill for Tallinn, Estonia, without passengers. This suggests that the jet had been used to transport the three passengers from Bucharest to London before being repositioned.
The flight operated under the call sign TOY433, and the handling request was sent to Signature Flight Support. Toyo Aviation SRL appears in the billing section of the document. This identifies the company receiving the airport services, but does not necessarily establish who ultimately paid for the flight.
Madrid–Prague: seven passengers on board
The second document, dated September 8, 2022, concerns a Challenger 300 registered as YR-TRC, with a stated maximum capacity of nine passengers.
The aircraft was scheduled to arrive in Madrid from Faro, Portugal, without passengers. It was then due to fly from Madrid to Prague with seven people on board:
- Šárka Kira Bilkova, a Czech national;
- Ștefan-Valentin Coman, a Romanian national;
- Luke Stephan Lelias, a French national;
- Bogdan-Adrian Stancu, a Romanian national;
- Emory Andrew Tate;
- Tristan Tate;
- Nicholas Thomas, a Polish national.
The Madrid–Prague flight carried the call sign TOY213. In Madrid, Toyo Aviation requested access to the general aviation terminal, a VIP lounge, an airport slot and parking.
Luke Lelias’s name appears on both passenger lists, with a slight spelling variation: “Stepan” in one document and “Stephan” in the other. The identification details in the records match, establishing that both entries refer to the same person.
Lelias is therefore the only identified companion listed alongside the Tate brothers on both trips: first on the Bucharest–London route in April 2022 and later on the Madrid–Prague flight in September.
The name of the Tate brothers’ former head of security
The Prague-bound passenger list also includes Bogdan-Adrian Stancu. International media subsequently identified a man named Bogdan Stancu as Andrew Tate’s head of security.
In January 2023, Stancu gave an interview to the BBC in which he discussed the Tate brothers’ security arrangements and his work at their property near Bucharest. He said he had worked for them for approximately two years and that the security team also accompanied them on trips abroad. His account was reported by The Independent.
No sufficiently reliable public information was found to establish the occupations of the other passengers — Sarka Kira Bilkova, Ștefan-Valentin Coman and Nicholas Thomas – or the precise nature of their relationship with Andrew and Tristan Tate.
Toyo Aviation’s two private jets
The two flights were scheduled using different aircraft operated by Toyo Aviation:
- an Embraer 135, registered as YR-IGP, for the Bucharest–London flight;
- a Challenger 300, registered as YR-TRC, for the Madrid–Prague flight.
The documents separately list the pilots and cabin crew. As they were crew members rather than personal companions of the Tate brothers, NewsCenter.ro has not included them among the two men’s fellow passengers.
The records do not disclose the price of the flights, who booked them or who ultimately paid the bills. Nor do they reveal the purpose of the trips to London and Prague. They do, however, confirm that the Tate brothers used private aircraft operated by the Romanian company and travelled with a wider group than was previously publicly known.
The flights preceded the investigations becoming public
Both trips took place before December 29, 2022, when Andrew and Tristan Tate were detained in Romania. In September 2026, the two brothers were sent to trial in a new case brought by Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. Depending on the alleged role attributed to each defendant, the charges include trafficking of minors, money laundering, sexual acts with a minor and influencing statements.
The Tate brothers have consistently denied the allegations against them.
