Dossier relating to the carrier Alitalia-Ita (Italy air transport) is getting closer: the date of December 11st is practically around the corner as regards the industrial plan and in the In the last few hours, the European Commission's head of competition, Margrethe Vestager, explored the topic. The latter replied to a question on the EU antitrust investigation into bridging loans granted by the Italian State to the old national airline. It is necessary to understand if public aid must be returned and if the newly formed Newco will have to take care of the financing.

According to Vestager all it's very close to the final decision: there is no official deadline in this sense, more than anything else it is important to understand if there has been public aid and if there are permits for a discontinuity between the old and the new carrier. According to Vestager, it would not be fair to attribute to Newco the responsibilities of those who preceded it in the presence of new staff and a new owner. All Brussels wants to avoid is that there is a competition problem. The commissioner stressed that she was in constant contact with Italian authorities, given that the whole case was defined with an adjective as clear as ever: complex. A month ago, number two of the Commission confirmed that there will be an extension for the same State aid, to be precise 6 more months as also detailed by AVIONEWS.