The biggest impediment for a sustainable development and commercial success of the hotels in Príncipe is related to the fact that São Tomé & Príncipe is “blacklisted” as a destination by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) as it does not comply with EU safety standards and regulations. Consequently, any airline company registered in STP is automatically blacklisted, but more importantly most of the “high end” travel agents are reluctant to send their potential clients to Príncipe, as their own insurance do not cover trips using “blacklisted” airlines.
For INAC (Instituto Nacional de Aviação Civi) the mid to long term strategy in coordination with ENASA (Empresa Nacional de Aeroportos e Segurança Aérea) is to work towards lifting the restrictions from ICAO, but so far it has been a challenge that the government has not managed to overcome yet.

In order to mitigate this obstruction, the following strategy is being developed by a group of stakeholders in São Tome & Portugal:

• Identify a potential operator and fly under his AOC (Air Operator Certificate).
• Sourcing of 1 or 2 Beechcraft 1900 (19 seater) to operate between the islands on a daily basis.
• Air Traffic authorization and legalisation of route to fly to Libreville to connect with the Air France flight twice per week directly to Príncipe.
• Back up plane with a "Beechcraft King Air B200" based in São Tomé for VIP trips and Medivac.
• Commercial strategy definition and presentation to the central government in order to mitigate the “Blacklist” issue.