The Romanian state, through the State Asset Management Authority (AAAS), will become the majority shareholder of Blue Air, the president of the Authority, Florian Daniel Geanta, told cursdeguvernare.ro.

He noted that during Thursday he will inform Blue Air about the start of this procedure after the Ministry of Finance decided to ensure the fulfillment of the guarantee for the state aid provided in the summer of 2020.

“Based on the request I received yesterday (Wednesday – not) from the Ministry of Finance, I can tell you that we have started the procedure by which we will become the majority shareholder of Blue Air,” said the head of the State Assets Management Office.

Asked if he could estimate the deadline by which AAAS would receive a controlling stake in the air carrier, Daniel Geanta noted that it was difficult to specify how long this procedure, which would consist of several stages, would take.

We will remind, on September 6, Blue Air suspended all regular flights until September 12, citing the fact that the Ministry of Natural Resources seized all the company’s accounts.

A day later, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that it had decided to suspend the seizure and set a 12-month repayment schedule, but the company later announced that it would resume flights only from October 10, citing a lack of money for fuel and other operating costs. And this deadline was postponed.

In mid-September, Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke said that the control body would conduct inspections to establish the real reasons that led to the blocking of the airline’s accounts. Asked if there were any suspicions that these Blue Air accounts had been blocked without the law, the Prime Minister said: “There are suspicions, so the Control Authority will establish the real reasons.”