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ELFAA condemns latest state aid to SAS

Direct News Source

16-Nov-2012 The European Low Fares Airline Association, ELFAA, strongly condemns this week's announcement by the Government shareholders of SAS that they are prepared to grant further credit of SKr3.5billion to SAS.

SAS has been the beneficiary of successive state aid support, in one form or another, at yearly intervals.

ELFAA deplored these successive measures to prop up a clearly ailing airline with an outdated business model, formally recording our concern on each occasion to the Competition Directorate of the European Commission.

None of the measures concerned would pass the Market Economy Investor Principle and could only be contemplated by Governments as outright or indirect guarantors.

John Hanlon, Secretary General of ELFAA said:

"ELFAA's formal legal complaint to the Commission at the then latest such illegal support in December 2011 predicted that the measures would fail to lead to any recovery on the part of the SAS and would surely lead to a repeat in 2012. SAS having shown itself incapable of adapting to a changed market, the latest measure is similarly doomed to fail.

Enough is enough and we call on the Commission to now intervene to outlaw this latest proposal. Failure to do so will result in prolonging the serious distortion of competition and merely postpone the inevitable, at the cost of taxpayers."