Alitalia not getting State aid, Rome says
(ANSA) – Rome, October 24 – Italy’s troubled airliner Alitalia is not being rescued with State aid, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi told the Lower House on Thursday.
Earlier this month shareholders in the carrier approved an emergency 300-million-euro capital hike to pull the airline from the brink of bankruptcy. The State-owned post office, Poste Italiane, will buy up to 75 million euros in any unsubscribed shares in the capital increase. Italian banks Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit will guarantee to take a stake worth up to 100 million euros.
The capital increase is part of a government-engineered 500-million-euro rescue package, which also includes 200 million euros in loans, and prompted International Airlines Group last week to urge the European Commission to intervene to suspend what it said was ”flagrant State aid”. IAG, which owns Spanish carrier Iberia and British Airways, also said it was considering legal action against the package.
The European Commission last week asked for more information about the rescue package – in particular the controversial cash injection from Italy’s post office.
”There is no State aid, no repayment of debts created by a private company, but an action which we feel is part of the government’s duty”, Lupi said, briefing the House on the government’s role in Alitalia’s emergency plan.
”The government has always made it clear that it was not available for a public intervention to pay off debts.
”This is something which was not, and is not, absolutely acceptable for the cabinet”.