The European Commission has approved €73.02 million ($84.4 million) of Italian support in favour of Alitalia, aiming to compensate the airline for the damages suffered on 19 routes due to the pandemic between June 16 and October 31.

Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “The aviation industry continues to be one of the sectors hit particularly hard by the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.”

“This measure enables Italy to provide further compensation for direct damages suffered by Alitalia between June and October 2020 due to the travel restrictions necessary to limit the spread of the coronavirus

“We continue working closely with Member States to ensure that national support measures can be put in place in a coordinated and effective way, in line with EU rules. At the same time, our investigations into past support measures to Alitalia are ongoing and we are in contact with Italy on their plans and compliance with EU rules,” he added.

Alitalia is a major network airline operating in Italy. With a fleet of over 95 planes, in 2019 the company served hundreds of destinations all over the world, carrying about 20 million passengers from its main hub in Rome and other Italian airports to various international destinations.

The restrictions in place both in Italy and in other destination countries in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus have heavily affected Alitalia's operations, in particular regarding international and intercontinental flights. As a result, Alitalia incurred significant operating losses until at least October 31, 2020. – TradeArabia News Service