A maximal atmospheric mixing from a maximal CP violating phase

We point out an elegant mechanism to predict a maximal atmospheric angle, which is based on a maximal CP violating phase difference between second and third lepton families in the flavour symmetry basis. In this framework, a discussion of the general formulas for θ₁₂${\theta }_{12}$, |U_e3|$|U_{e3}|$, δ   and their possible correlations in some limiting cases is provided. We also present an explicit realisation in terms of an SO(3)$\mathit{SO}(3)$ flavour symmetry model.