The Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECAA), the Ethiopian authority in-charge of regulating the local airline industry, has refused to renew the operating licences of 19 out of 31 private domestic operators and aviation-related businesses on the grounds that the companies have yet to launch operations of any form. |
| Ethiopian Airlines F50 |
According to The Reporter, the ECAA said that "most" of the companies granted investment licenses had yet to even acquire a single aircraft let alone launch flights with some preferring to sub-contract work out to other airlines, thereby undermining the business of those that do operate their own flights.
The twelve of the private domestic airlines have renewed licenses including:
- Abyssinian Flight Services,
- Trans Nation Airways (one of the subsidiary companies of MIDROC Technology Group)(TNW),
- Rotation International,
- Suhura Air Transport (owned by the famous khat trader, Suhura Ismail),
- International Cargo Aviation Services (ICAS),
- Amibara Agricultural Development Enterprise,
- Teddy Air Services,
- Tedros Engineering Plc,
- Aquarius Aviation Plc,
- National Air Services Enterprise (7N),
- Zemen Flight Services,
- Abyssinian Ballooning
Ethiopia's heavily regulated aviation industry is restricted to local ownership only, with those operations also restricted to only 50-seaters and less. Foreign investment is currently forbidden under current legislation though Addis Ababa is believed to be drafting new laws that will permit a 40% foreign ownership cap in local carriers.
The ECAA has tried to claim that those regulations are there to protect the industry from "over-ambitious" investors with no experience of the sector though others have pointed to heavy protectionism aimed at giving national carrier, Ethiopian Airlines (ET), the upper hand.
