EC APPROVES €39.7 MILLION STATE AID TO ALITALIA
On 2 July, the European Commission found that an Italian aid measure of €39.7 million to support Alitalia is in line with EU State aid rules. This measure aims at compensating the airline for the damages suffered on certain routes due to the coronavirus outbreak during the period between 1 March and 30 April 2021.
The support, which was notified to the Commission on 25 June 2021, will take the form of a €39.7 million direct grant, which corresponds to the estimated damage directly caused to the airline in that period according to a route-by-route analysis of the eligible routes. This follows the Commission decisions of 12 May 2021, 26 March 2021, 29 December 2020 and 4 September 2020 approving Italian damage compensation measures in favour of Alitalia, compensating the airline for the damages suffered from 1 to 31 January 2021, 1 November to 31 December 2020, 16 June to 31 October 2020 and 1 March to 15 June 2020 respectively.
Having assessed the measure under Article 107(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Commission considers that the coronavirus outbreak qualifies as an exceptional occurrence, as it is an extraordinary, unforeseeable event having significant economic impact. As a result, exceptional interventions by the Member State to compensate for the damages linked to the outbreak are justified. On this basis, the Commission concluded that the additional Italian damage compensation measure is in line with EU State aid rules.
Source: European Commission