EUROPEAN COMMISSION APPROVES ITALY’S AID FOR ALITALIA

The European Commission on Wednesday said it has approved Italy's bid to give ailing airline Alitalia a short-term boost of 12.8 million euros (15.4 million dollars) in compensation for its losses on particular routes in January amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The commission noted that it had authorized similar payments in September and December 2020 and March 2021, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported on May 13, 2021.

The Italian government has been wrangling with the Commission for years over the question of providing aid to the struggling airline, which is now under state management. Alitalia, with a staff of more than 10,000 people, has faced liquidity shortages several times in the past few months due to the crisis unleashed by the pandemic, according to trade union sources.

The Italian government presented plans to restructure Alitalia in the autumn of 2020. EU competition regulators have been investigating Italian state loans to Alitalia since 2018.

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