Spain wants a joint European response to the crisis at airlines caused by travel restrictions to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.

Iran PressEurope: On Monday and in an interview with Bloomberg TV, Spain’s economy minister Nadia Calvino said: “We are strongly supporting that there is a European response,” adding any responses by individual countries should not distort competition, the Reuters reported. .

“All these large carriers are not one nationality or another, they are European carriers,” she said.

She went on saying that European Union member states should ensure a “level playing field” for airlines, and countries with the deepest pockets should not be able to give more aid to their own airlines to the detriment of those from other countries.

“I think the European Commission is keeping a very close eye to make sure there is no breach of the competition rules,” Calvino said.

Major European airlines are negotiating government aid deals as they grapple with the global air travel shutdown and deep uncertainty over prospects for recovery once the pandemic eases.

Aid pledged so far has varied widely from one country to another.

While Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) has received 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) in French-backed aid and Dutch pledges for a further 2-4 billion euros, International Consolidated Airlines (ICAG.L), which owns British Airways and Spain’s Iberia, has only got a 1-billion-euro loan guarantee from Spain.

Calvino also reiterated Spain’s position supporting the creation of a common EU recovery fund that would be funded jointly by member states.

Two-Thirds of the World’s Passengers Jets Are Grounded Amid COVID-19 Pandemic and More than 16,000 passenger jets are grounded worldwide.

Finding the right space and conditions for 62% of the world’s planes and keeping them airworthy have suddenly become priorities for 2020.

The number of passenger jets in service is the lowest in 26 years and managing such large-scale storage is a challenge for an industry already in crisis, with airlines worldwide slashing capacity to close to zero or not flying at all. 212/ 104

 

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