EU Commission Approves €350 Million Aid for Finnish Air Operator Finavia
The European Commission has approved Finland’s financial support of €350 million for Finavia in line with the EU State aid rules.
The financial aid aims to compensate the airline for the damages that it has suffered due to the Coronavirus outbreak from March 16 to June 30, 2020.
Executive Vice-President Margarethe Vestager said that similar to other companies, Finavia has been struck by the COVID-19 outbreak and has experienced significant losses due to travel restrictions that Finland and other countries imposed to contain the further spread of the virus, risking the company’s equity and liquidity.
“This €350 million support package will enable Finland to support the airport operator in different forms, namely a capital injection, a subordinated loan, and a measure to partly compensate the company for the damages directly linked to the outbreak,” she added.
Finavia is one of the leading airport operators in Finland, managing 21 airports, including the airport of Helsinki as well, AtoZSerwisPlus.pl reports.
According to a European Commission’s press release, Finland informed the Commission about the three taken measures supporting Finavia, concretely:
- A €249 million capital injection.
- A €33 million subordinated loan under the State aid Temporary Framework.
- A €68 million measure to compensate the operator for the damage caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, under Article 107(2)(b) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).
The capital injection and subordinated load-supporting Finavia is under the State aid Temporary Framework and in line with Finland’s notification, more precisely with Article 107(3)(b) TFEU and the conditions set out in the Temporary Framework.
Based on the same press release of the European Commission, it was revealed that the measures reported by Finland are in concordance with the set conditions and the Article 107 (3)(b) TFEU, as follows:
- Conditions based on the necessity, suitability, and extent of intervention: the measures will be just enough to guarantee the viability of Finavia.
- Conditions on the State’s entry, compensation, and the motive to exit from the company’s capital: the recapitalization measure will help the viability of Finavia, the collapse of which would affect the Finnish economy.
- Acquisition ban: until a minimum of 75 percent of the recapitalization is recovered, Finavia is to ban bonus payments and obtain more than a ten percent stake from other competitors.
- Public openness and reporting: Finavia must publish how the received aid was used and how it supports the company’s activities while in line with the EU obligations associated with green and digital transformation.
On March 13, 2020, the Commission adopted a communication where it was stated that the Member States could compensate different companies for the suffered damage caused by extraordinary events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, foreseen by Article 107(2)(b)TFEU.
The Commission has previously approved €350 million aid to compensate the Finnish air operator Finnair to compensate the losses due to the Coronavirus. Another €511 million aid was approved to compensate Italy’s commercial rail operators for the suffered damages.
