European Coastal Airlines (Split) chief executive Klaus Dieter Martin says the Croatian seaplane specialist is aiming to resume operations next year amid reports it has taken the Croatian Civil Aviation Agency (CCAA) to court.

ECA suspended all flights earlier this month citing what it called the arbitrary nature of some of the CCAA's decisions. The impasse between operator and regulator stretches back to August when the agency suspended the airline's AOC on safety grounds, a claim ECA labelled spurious and unwarranted at the time.

According to the Jutarnji List newspaper, the first of the cases, filed with an Administrative Court, is contesting a CCAA decision to ground the airline. The other case, which has been filed with a Commercial Court, is seeking damages of HRK5 million kuna (USD725,000) for losses incurred during the carrier's suspension of operations in August and September following the withdrawal of its license.

The German says he has enlisted several experts from the aviation industry and other civil aviation authorities abroad to scrutinize the CCAA's findings adding that all of them independently arrived at the same conclusion: that the CCAA's due process and decision to ground the airline were poorly premised and flawed.

Martin also told Total Croatia News that given the nature of lawsuits, he could not pin down an exact date as to when ECA will resume operations.

"Having filed a lawsuit against the CCAA, I would not like to commit myself to a date at this point. Three planes which we lease in Switzerland will go there for the winter, and the fourth will stay here, and we will see how things develop," he said. According to the ch-aviation fleets database, the three Swiss owned aircraft in question are leased from RUAG Aerospace (Lucerne).