After more than a year of formal proceedings, the European Commission announced on Tuesday that it has approved restructuring aid from the state for Poland?s national airline LOT.
?LOT has prepared a credible restructuring plan that should make it a viable company in the near future,? Commissioner Joaquín Almunia was quoted as saying in the press release. ?At the same time, it gives up some profitable routes and slots at several congested airports, which creates opportunities for its competitors and reduces the competition distortions brought about by the aid.?
The aid for LOT totals PLN 804 million, some of which has not yet been paid out. The process started when the airline received a PLN 400 million loan in December 2012. In June 2013, the Ministry of State Treasury, which supervises LOT, sent the public aid scheme and the airline?s restructuring plan to the EC for approval. Deputy Treasury Minister Rafał Baniak recently said that LOT could receive the second tranche of the state aid, worth PLN 381 million, this summer. In early June, LOT announced that it had recorded a net profit of PLN 26 million in 2013, in the black for the first time since 2008.
wbj.pl
