EU state aid regulators approve Romanian COVID-19 airline subsidies

EU state aid regulators cleared a E62m loan guarantee on Thursday from the Romanian government to airline Blue Air, saying it was in line with the bloc’s state aid rules. The package includes a E28m guarantee to compensate the carrier for damage caused by coronavirus-linked travel restrictions, and a E34m guarantee providing urgent liquidity support to help cover losses incurred since the outbreak. The EC said Blue Air was lossmaking before the pandemic, but had returned to profitability in late 2019, until the virus outbreak severely hit the aviation sector and the company incurred significant losses. It said the Romanian scheme would compensate damage directly linked to the pandemic and was dependent on Blue Air submitting a plan to become viable in the long term, and was therefore in line with the bloc’s state aid rules. <br/>