Romanian state ends up as owner of 75% in troubled airline Blue Air
The Romanian state, through the Authority for the Administration of State Assets (AAAS), will become the majority shareholder (75%) of Blue Air – meaning it will own three-quarters of all its assets and, notably, its liabilities, CursDeGuvernare.ro announced.
The Ministry of Finance decided to execute the guarantee regarding the state aid granted in the summer of 2020, namely a RON 300 mln (EUR 60 mln) loan extended by state bank Eximbank and guaranteed by the state after Blue Air repeatedly failed to pay the instalments and interest related to the state aid. In fact, Blue Air paid back precisely none of the instalments related to the loan.
"Based on the address we received yesterday (on November 16) from the Ministry of Finance, I can confirm that we have initiated the procedure by which we will become the majority shareholder of Blue Air," the head of AAAS told CursDeGuvernare.ro.
The main assets of the Blue Air group of companies are a plot of land in District 1 of Bucharest and six aircraft.
iulian@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: Robwilson39/Dreamstime.com)
