Seychelles Airlines (Mahé) has been forced to suspend its application for an Air Operators Certificate (AOC) by the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA). Local media reports say the SCAA's decision to suspend the start-up's certification came after the airline's owners, Intershore Aviation, filed a court case against the Seychelles Registrar after the latter rescinded a previous decision allowing the firm to use and register the name "Seychelles Airlines."

The SCAA argues that until the case is resolved, it cannot legally proceed with certification.

"We will not proceed with their application until such time that the court has ruled over the matter,” SCAA managing director, Gilbert Faure, told the Seychelles News Agency.

For its part, Seychelles Airlines, whose parent firm Intershore Aviation is owned by local lawyer and politician Phillipe Boullé, says it has asked the SCAA to state under which legal provision it had chosen to suspend its certification.

“We’ve asked SCAA to indicate to us under which legal provision they rely on to establish that position that they can’t even process our papers because they are administering an act, the civil aviation and under that act you are told what you are allowed to do or what you can’t do,” the Chief Executive Officer of Seychelles Airlines and Seychelles' former Principal Secretary of Finance, Ahmed Afif, told SNA.

Under Seychellois law, only government-associated entities are allowed to include the name "Seychelles" in their names. Afif claims that prior to registration, the start-up held various meetings with the Registrar's office concerning their proposed naming to which the Registar agreed resulting in the issuance of an official certificate in August last year.

However, four months later, Intershore Aviation was contacted by the Registrar, and advised to change its trading name, to omit the word ‘Seychelles’, leading to Intershore Aviation filing its court case.

Despite the ongoing dispute, Afif claims that the trading name ‘Seychelles Airlines’ is still on the register of companies.

Analysts following the start-up's launch have pointed to state-protectionism for local operator, Air Seychelles (HM, Mahé), as a possible reason for its stalled application. Seychelles Airlines intends to offer scheduled direct B767-300(ER) flights to Europe in competition with Air Seychelles, whose own European services are inconveniently routed via Abu Dhabi International.

Island president James Michel was also directly involved in wooing Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) to acquire a stake in Air Seychelles prior to 2012.