Press Release: State aid: Commission orders recovery of €360 million unlawful aid from Italian ground handling operator SEA Handling

The European Commission has concluded that around €360 million of state aid granted between 2002 and 2010 by SEA, the state-owned operator of the Milan Malpensa and Milan Linate airports, to its subsidiary SEA Handling, ground handling operator at the airports, is incompatible with EU state aid rules. The Commission's investigation found that the capital injections carried out by SEA Handling's state-owned shareholders procured an undue economic advantage to SEA Handling that its competitors, who have to operate without state subsidies, did not have. SEA Handling now needs to pay back the undue advantage with interest.