EU competition regulators on Friday gave the green light to a slimmed down successor to Alitalia and said the new state-owned airline was not liable for repaying E900m 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 E900m 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 EC, which oversees the EU's competition policy. The new carrier is due to start flying in place of Alitalia on Oct. 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 and a demonstration was underway in Rome.<br/>
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Italy’s new state-backed airline, Italia Trasporto Aereo SpA, will seek to buy the Alitalia name in time for its start of service in mid-October, according to people familiar with the matter. A market-price auction of the brand was outlined in a decision released Friday by the EC. It’s one of the measures required in order to consider ITA a separate entity from the 74-year-old Alitalia, which is being wound down after losing money for decades. The sale of the iconic name could take place as soon as next week, said the people, who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public. Transfering control of the brand to ITA has been a key goal of the government in Rome as it seeks to retain Alitalia’s identity while giving the new, smaller airline a fresh start. But the European Union’s antitrust chief, Margrethe Vestager, insisted that the economic interests of the new carrier be separated from its deeply indebted predecessor. The sides wrangled for months over matters including routes, staffing and equipment. The Alitalia brand dates back to 1947, when a Fiat G-12 plane took off from from Turin and landed at Sicily’s Catania airport after a stop in Rome. <br/>