The European Union has decided to investigate the 400 million euros loan granted to Alitalia by the Italian state.
A state is not formally prohibited from lending money to an airline as long as it is on the same terms as if the loan had been obtained from a private organization. What the European Union wants to verify is that it is not a disguised aid.
It should be remembered that a previous loan was not repaid but converted into capital.
The Italian side defends itself by saying that the loan should have been reimbursed at the time of the sale of the airline…the main problem being that nobody wants to buy Alitalia today, Lufthansa even preferring today to look at TAP Air Portugal.
And meanwhile the airline continues to lose money, certainly not helped by the coronavirus.
Today, there are only two possible scenarios: the nationalization of the airline through, among other things, the conversion of the loan in question into capital, as it is well known that Alitalia will not have the means to reimburse it, or else the pure and simple death of the airline.
Or, to put it another way, does the Italian government want an Italian airline to continue to exist (Air Italy recently filed for bankruptcy) and, if so, can it afford it?
Photo : A320 Alitalia by Przemyslaw Szablowski via Shutterstock
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