ITALY seems to be in turmoil again regarding commercial aviation matters. The European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) is calling upon the EC to take a hard line against what it calls the latest abuse by Italian authorities of the Public Service Obligation (PSO) system, routes that are kept open for social reasons and are not usually viable. ELFAA says that the Italian government has imposed PSOs on several routes between Sardinia and mainland Italy which are considered to be commercially practical and given them to Alitalia. ”It”s a backhanded way of subsidising the airline from more efficient competition and provides Alitalia with even more State aid,” says the organisation whose membership includes easyJet, FlyBe, Hapag-Lloyd Express, Norwegian, Ryanair, Sky Europe, Sterling, Sverige Flyg, Transavia and Wizzair. ELFAA has complained to the EC and asked the Commission to disallow any application of PSOs within Italy where there is clearly a market and where the consumer is able to benefit from low fares.
http://www.elfaa.com