Ecuador’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) recently adopted mutual recognition of air operators certificates (AOCs) for airlines from Andean countries whose regulatory frameworks comply with ICAO standards, namely Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.
In the words of Ecuador’s Minister of Tourism Mateo Estrella, the initiative “would allow any airline holding an AOC in one Andean country to operate domestically in another”. With Ecuador having set a maximum period of one month for AOC recognition, the measure is clearly designed to expedite the entry of new players into the country’s aviation market, and is likely to benefit consumers if regional LCCs take up the offer.