EU gives green light to Alitalia

BRUSSELS – The European Commission gave conditional approval yesterday to a restructuring plan for Alitalia, which the Italian government hopes will save the loss-making national carrier.

European Union (EU) transport commissioner Jacques Barrot said the plan put forward by the Italian government could proceed, providing strict conditions are respected. “On the basis of a thorough and detailed analysis, the commission has concluded that these recapitalisations do not involve any state aid,” said Barrot.The Italian government is prevented from giving state aid to Alitalia under EU laws, which bar governments from propping up national companies more than once in a 10-year period.Alitalia was granted 1,42 billion euros (N$11,4 billion) by the Italian government between 1997 and 2002.The EU investigation focused on plans to split the company into two parts, AZ Fly and AZ Services, which are the flight operations and ground-handling services respectively.AZ Fly will be recapitalised via a planned 1,2 billion euro share sale, while AZ Services will benefit from a 216 million euro investment from state holding company Fintecna.- Nampa-AFP”On the basis of a thorough and detailed analysis, the commission has concluded that these recapitalisations do not involve any state aid,” said Barrot.The Italian government is prevented from giving state aid to Alitalia under EU laws, which bar governments from propping up national companies more than once in a 10-year period.Alitalia was granted 1,42 billion euros (N$11,4 billion) by the Italian government between 1997 and 2002.The EU investigation focused on plans to split the company into two parts, AZ Fly and AZ Services, which are the flight operations and ground-handling services respectively.AZ Fly will be recapitalised via a planned 1,2 billion euro share sale, while AZ Services will benefit from a 216 million euro investment from state holding company Fintecna.- Nampa-AFP