This was the public rescue of the Air Europa airline, the operation that the PP clings to to attack Sánchez | Economy

The rescue of Air Europa is at the center of the complaint that the PP plans to present to the Conflict of Interest Office because it considers that in the Council of Ministers, chaired by Pedro Sánchez, “decisions were made favorable to a company that had links of an economic and professional nature with his wife”, Begoña Gómez. The approval of public aid to the Hidalgo family company followed the same channels as other airline companies urgently rescued in the middle of the pandemic. The bailout was approved in November 2020 by the Council of Ministers and amounted to 475 million that have not yet been returned.

The injection was authorized at a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, November 3, 2020 and was carried out on behalf of the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies, created in July of that year by the Government to alleviate the impact of the pandemic. The operation was carried out through a participatory loan of 240 million and another ordinary loan of 235 million. Air Europa, which was the first company rescued using said fund, also obtained during the year of confinement due to the covid pandemic a loan of 140 million guaranteed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO), which is added to the previous credit. It was not the only airline that received help. In total, the fund allocated 740 million to Air Europa, Volotea, Air Nostrum and Plus Ultra, which also received loans from the ICO.

All of these airlines are experiencing financial difficulties that complicate the repayment of their debt. In the case of Air Europa, which has to repay the fund’s credit at the latest in 2026 and that of the ICO in 2028, the cushion provided by the State aid came up once morest the reality of the 2020 accounts. That year the company registered record losses of 427.7 million, compared to profits of 27.7 million the previous year, according to the results published in the Commercial Registry a year later. In 2021, the Red numbers They stood at 304 million. In 2022, the company managed to emerge from losses with a net profit of 14.48 million, although the debt was barely reduced by 60 million and the balance stood at 932 million.

The solution to Air Europa’s debts now depends on IAG, the Iberia airline group that has been seeking its purchase since the end of 2019, and which is pending authorization from Brussels to complete the acquisition. In 2022, he took 20% of the capital in exchange for an injection of 100 million in the Hidalgo family company. And a year ago the agreement was closed between IAG and Globalia, the parent company of Air Europa, for the acquisition of the remaining 80% for 400 million euros. Thus, the total of the operation has amounted to 500 million euros, half of the 1,000 million that was agreed in the original agreement announced in November 2019, which had to be renegotiated several times since then due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The European Commission is studying whether the conditions for the merger are met within the framework of EU competition rules. In March, it emerged that Brussels requested more information regarding the operation, but this is a common process in this type of analysis and only refers to the impact it may have for competition purposes, it is not related to the public aid that the airline received.

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