August 24 (SeeNews) - Croatia's Civil Aviation Agency (HACZ) said on Wednesday it has grounded local seaplane operator European Coastal Airline (ECA) due to safety issues.
HACZ has confiscated ECA's licence to fly due to identified deficiencies in the maintenance of the company's aircraft, the agency said.
Late last week, ECA released a statement saying its planes have been grounded but will resume flying by the middle of this week. However, according to HACZ, ECA has not eliminated the irregularities and will remain grounded until all prescribed requirements are met.
ECA, founded in 2000, started operations out of Split in August 2014 with a route to Jelsa, on the Adriatic island of Hvar.
Last year in November, ECA announced it is starting services to Italy's Ancona.
The company's ultimate goal is to connect all 66 inhabited islands in Croatia's Adriatic Sea as well as at a later stage expand operations abroad, it said at the time.