Osijek Airport gets financial injection

GLOBAL AVIATION NEWS

EU okays Alitalia successor

EU competition regulators have given the green light to a slimmed down successor to Alitalia and said the new state-owned airline was not liable for repaying 900 million euros in illegal state aid received by its predecessor. The approval of Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) will be greeted with relief in Rome, which has been negotiating for months to prevent the decision on the 900 million euros of loans from hindering the launch of the new airline. Alitalia is unlikely to repay that aid, plus interest, as the carrier's coffers are empty and money it may collect from the sale of assets is not expected to be enough. ITA will operate with less than half of Alitalia's fleet of aircraft and will only be allowed to take over limited parts of its predecessor's handling and maintenance businesses. Alitalia's brand and its loyalty programme will be sold in an open tender, said the European Commission, which oversees the EU's competition policy. The new carrier is due to start flying in place of Alitalia on October 15 and plans to employ only a small part of its predecessor's 11.000 total workforce under a new, less generous labour contract. The uncertainty over the future of thousands of workers has sparked protests. The Italian government has set aside a total of 3 billion euros for ITA, but the Commission only gave a green light to an initial 1.35 billion euros capital injection by Rome into the carrier over the next three years.
Reuters

Osijek Airport gets financial injection

NEWS FLASH

Osijek Airport has received a 133.500 euro cash injection from the Osijek-Baranja county. The county’s prefect, Ivan Anušić, said, “The airport is one of our county’s priorities. This year’s investment of one million kuna [133.500 euros] and is the largest we have made so far. The county has so far invested 3.5 million kuna into the airport”. The county has a 20% stake in the airport, while 55% is controlled by the state and 25% by the city of Osijek. The airport’s newly appointed General Manager, Ivan Kos, said, “I don’t want to make any big promises, however, in the coming year we expect to invest significantly into our cargo capacities and will attempt to attract foreign carriers that will maintain flights on a year-round basis, not just seasonal”. Earlier this year, Osijek Airport issued a public call for low cost carriers to commence operations in return for incentives, however, the result of the tender has never been published. Osijek Airport is currently served by Croatia Airlines and Trade Air, which maintain domestic flights from the city. Over the years, the likes of Wizz Air, Ryanair Air and Eurowings served Osijek. The airport handled just 6.626 passengers in 2020, down 85.7% on the year before.

Comments

Anon09:50
Hope this one works out. The new CEO is once again someone without prior aviation experience and it might be tricky... But a lot of potential for VFR flights in EU.
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