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BA hits out at Italian job
British Airways (BA) is the latest airline to call on the European Commission to block a rescue package from the Italian government to the national airliner, Alitalia.
The Italian government had agreed a loan guarantee deal with Alitalia that would see the airliner receive 400m euros (£266m) to keep it in business.
However, BA has argued that the deal infringes the EU state aid law, which prohibits state handouts if a company has already received aid within 10 years.
Alitalia was given a1.4bn euro (£930m) by the Italian government for a restructuring plan, which the airliner completed in 2000.
BA claims that rather than using the money to restructure and rationalise its services, Alitalia has invested in expanding its long haul network and has drawn plans to enter the UK market.
Andrew Cahn, director of industry affairs at BA, said: “Buying new airliners and expanding routes are not the actions of an airline going bust. If they were, they would be cutting back, not expanding.
“They would be rationalising their network and reducing their fleet, not growing it.”
Last month, Alitalia came under fire from Virgin Express, which accused the airline of using “predatory pricing tactics” on routes between Italy and Brussels. A coalition of low-fare airliners, led by Ryanair, also wrote to the EC stating that it should “prevent any attempt by the Italian government to yet again bail out Alitalia through state funds.”
Meanwhile, BA figures show that its own Future Size and Shape recovery programme has cut costs at BA by £1bn and resulted in 13,082 jobs being axed during the last two years. Details: www.britishairways.com