Government 'conditionally approves' second LOT loan
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
25.06.2013 07:30
Poland's treasury minister has told Polish Radio that the latest 100 million euro bailout that LOT airlines has asked the government to stump up has been “conditionally approved”.
Minister Karpinski: photo - Wojciech Kusiński PR
Minister Włodzimierz Karpiński said on Tuesday morning that after talks with management and trade unions he sees “room for more effective management” but that there was a spirit of “all hands on deck” at the airline which made a loss of 50 million euros last year.
Karpiński added that the 381 million zloty loan - following on from a 400 million zloty loan in December last year “will be the last”.
“Therefore, the main objective is to develop a good business plan for LOT so that the problems do not happen again.”
The EU has yet to comment on the second loan application.
Poland has changed the law so that LOT can be fully privatised, with Air Berlin thought to be one possible buyer.
The treasury minister said he was waiting from an offer from Boeing in July to compensate the state for losses when LOT's two Dreamliner aircraft were grounded for the first six months of the year after battery failure. (pg)