EasyJet hopes TAP aid will not be used for unfair competition

The director of EasyJet for Portugal said on Tuesday he hoped that the TAP restructuring plan, which is awaiting approval from Brussels, aimed to make the company profitable but that the aid wouldn’t create unfair competition and lower fares.

“The restructuring plan [of TAP], which has not yet been approved, hopefully soon so that we can know in detail all its aspects, [let us hope] that it is a plan that aims to clean up the company, so that it can be profitable and that these amounts [of aid] are not used to compete, for example, by lowering fares,” José Lopes told Lusa.

Stressing that EasyJet is not opposed to state aid on principle, Lopes pointed out that state aid to TAP is higher than that given to other European companies, which were not in a difficult financial situation before the Covid-19 pandemic.

“If we look at the amount that has been spoken about publicly, the total state aid to be given to TAP if we compare it with the state aid that was given to other European companies that were not in a loss-making situation before the pandemic, the amount that is being given to TAP is higher per unit, so per number of aircraft, […] it is higher than what was given to those companies, and the restructuring that has been announced is lower in percentage terms than the restructuring that was done in practically all the major companies in Europe,” Lopes stressed.

EasyJet also said that it would continue to monitor the TAP dossier.

“The important thing is that remedies are created so that this state aid that is being given and that will be given does not distort competition too much,” he said.