October 4 (SeeNews) - Dalmatia-based seaplane operator European Coastal Airlines (ECA) said on Tuesday it is temporarily halting operations and will dismiss about 90% of its staff by the end of November due to alleged wrongdoing by the Croatian regulatory authorities.
European Coastal Airlines is suspending all operations for the time being and will dismiss 130 workers to avoid further arbitrariness by administrative entities that have negatively affected its operations since August, the company told SeeNews in an email.
"Sadly, since 12th of August 2016 the flight operations of this revolutionary infrastructure project has been continuously disturbed, partly our entire fleet has been grounded for no justified reasons. [...] Hence the shareholders of European Coastal Airlines do not see any alternative but to suspend operations for the time being. This comes at a high cost for almost every operational job within our company", ECA said.
ECA added that it has sought help from the Croatian government to continue to operate.
In the meantime, the company will cut its workforce from 146 full-time jobs to approximately 16 due to alleged wrongdoing by regulators such as Croatia's Civil Aviation Agency (HACZ), which grounded ECA hydroplanes because of "identified deficiencies in the maintenance of the company's aircraft".
ECA claims that HACZ had no justified reason for this move.
"ECA will no longer invest any funds into the Croatian seaplane project up until the administrative situation is cleared up and we are given the opportunity to operate in a safe and trustworthy marketplace", the company noted.
ECA, founded in 2000, started operations out of Split in August 2014 with a route to Jelsa, on the Adriatic island of Hvar.
The company's goal was to connect all 66 inhabited islands in Croatia's Adriatic Sea and expand operations abroad at a later stage.