Posted on 01/30/2015 6:49:21 AM PST by Olog-hai
The national airline of Cyprus has ceased operations after the European Commission ordered that it must repay €65 million in illegal state aid.
The Commission ruled that the airline, which has been losing money for some time and is 94% government-owned, must pay back €65 million of the €103 million that it received in state aid in 2012 and 2013. The airline has been receiving money from the government since 2007. …
(Excerpt) Read more at europeanvoice.com ...
The commission has been going after just about all European countries on airline help and airport assistance.
In Germany, there’s at least four or five airports which only marginally exist with state funding key to their survival. They’ve all been given notice that the ‘help’ is ending and they must make it on their own. The Kassel Int’l Airport basically runs with around ten flights a week...which isn’t enough to pay for the fire department, airport staff and security. Same deal for Saarbrucken.
In the case of Cyprus Air (which I’ve ridden in the past)...they were surviving until the last decade when the low-price discount airlines suddenly appeared.
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