diff --git a/mapchete/path.py b/mapchete/path.py
index 1d705684..45fa8eef 100644
--- a/mapchete/path.py
+++ b/mapchete/path.py
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 from io import TextIOWrapper
 from typing import IO, Generator, List, Optional, Set, TextIO, Tuple, Union
 
+from aiohttp import BasicAuth
 import fiona
 import fsspec
 import oyaml as yaml
@@ -175,8 +176,6 @@ def fs(self) -> fsspec.AbstractFileSystem:
         elif self._path_str.startswith(("http://", "https://")):
             username = self._storage_options.get("username")
             if username:
-                from aiohttp import BasicAuth
-
                 auth = BasicAuth(
                     login=username,
                     password=self._storage_options.get("password", ""),
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d59103aa..2b3c8f4d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ classifiers = [
     "Topic :: Scientific/Engineering :: GIS",
 ]
 dependencies = [
+    "aiohttp",
     "cachetools",
     "click-plugins",
     "click-spinner",