Darwin Airline (Lugano) has been given a deadline of September 30 by the Swiss federal office for civil aviation (FOCA) to provide details of how it wants to adjust its company structure to comply with regulations that state all Swiss carriers need to be both majority owned and controlled by Swiss or EU citizens.

According to a report by Swiss business newspaper Handelszeitung, Darwin, operating as Etihad Regional, is not considered by FOCA to be meeting this requirement with its proposed shareholder and company structure.

FOCA spokeswoman Martine Reymond has told ch-aviation that at this point no definitive decision has been made since Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) has still not closed its proposed transaction to acquire 33.3% in Darwin. Based on a review of the cooperation agreements between Etihad and Darwin, FOCA believes that the proposed structure of these agreements could lead to control of Darwin/Etihad Regional by Etihad which would violate Swiss law. It has notified Darwin accordingly and set a deadline for a revision of the proposed arrangements with Etihad.

FOCA will review changes proposed by the two carriers again at that time but Reymond said that the authority would consider all options including a possible revocation of Darwin's air operator certificate should it find that Darwin's ownership or control structure would violate legal requirements.