The European Fee has accepted, underneath EU state support guidelines, French restructuring support of a complete of €167.8 million to airline Corsair. The help consists of an €80 million write-off on loans that had been accepted by the Fee in December 2020 and €87.8 million of further financing. The approval is topic to situations.
The Fee accepted €106.7 million in restructuring support for Corsair in December 2020, in accordance with the Tips on state support for the rescue and restructuring of companies in problem. This included €80 million in loans. On the identical day, the Fee additionally accepted €30.2 million in compensatory support to Corsair for the harm suffered between 17 March and 30 June 2020 on account of lockdown measures and journey restrictions associated to the coronavirus outbreak.
In September 2023, France knowledgeable the Fee of its intention to amend the restructuring plan initially accepted by the Fee. The French authorities defined that the marketing strategy underpinning the restructuring plan was based mostly on assumptions that had been now not confirmed, and that distinctive unforeseeable exterior occasions had a very unfavourable influence on Corsair. Consequently, the airline was going through severe monetary difficulties.
On 5 February 2024, the Fee opened an in-depth investigation to evaluate whether or not the modification to Corsair’s restructuring plan proposed by France is in keeping with EU State support guidelines.
The Fee’s evaluation
The Fee assessed the measure underneath EU state support guidelines, particularly the Tips on state support for rescue and restructuring. The evaluation centered on whether or not (i) Corsair supplied a real and ample personal contribution to the restructuring, freed from state support, (ii) the restructuring plan might restore Corsair’s long-term viability, (iii) there have been satisfactory compensatory measures, and (iv) the measure contributed to the event of an financial exercise or space.
Following the investigation and the reimbursement with curiosity of the state support granted between 2021 and 2022, the Fee considers that the revised restructuring plan, along with additional personal contributions, up to date viability assumptions and satisfactory compensatory measures, successfully addresses the considerations recognized throughout the investigation, and ensures Corsair’s return to long-term viability by the top of the restructuring interval. On that foundation, the Fee concluded that the restructuring support of €167.8 million which France intends to grant to Corsair is appropriate with the interior market, topic to a collection of situations designed to restrict the distortive results of the help on competitors corresponding to a discount in flight rotations and slot releases.
On this foundation, the Fee accepted the French measure underneath EU State support guidelines.
Background
Corsair is a French airline based mostly at Paris-Orly Airport and registered with the Pointe-à-Pitre (Guadeloupe) Commerce and Corporations Register. Corsair primarily serves the French outermost areas within the Caribbean (Martinique, French Guiana) and Africa (Réunion, Mayotte).
EU State support guidelines, particularly the Tips on state support for rescue and restructuring, allow Member States to assist firms in problem, underneath sure strict situations. Rescue support could also be granted for a interval of as much as six months. Past this era, the help should both be reimbursed or member states should notify a restructuring plan to the Fee, for evaluation underneath the state support guidelines. For restructuring support to be accepted, the plan should make sure that the viability of the corporate may be restored with out continued state assist, that the corporate contributes sufficiently to the prices of its restructuring and that distortions of competitors created by the help are addressed by compensatory measures, which may be structural or behavioural.
For extra data
The non-confidential model of the choice will likely be made accessible underneath the case quantity SA.109662 within the state support register on the Fee’s competitors web site as soon as any confidentiality points have been resolved. New publications of state support selections on the web and within the Official Journal are listed within the Competitors Weekly e-Information.
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