L 322/44 Official Journal of the European Communities 25. 11. 97 COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 15 July 1997 concerning the recapitalization of the company Alitalia (Only the Italian text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (97/789/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular the first paragraph of Article 93 (2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement establishing the Euro- pean Economic Area, and in particular Article 62 (1) (a) thereof, Having given the parties concerned notice ('), in ac- cordance with the provisions of the abovementioned Atticles, to submit their observations, and having regard to those observations, Whereas: THE FACTS I Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. (hereinafter referred to as ‘Alitalia’) was set up on 16 September 1946 with an initial capital of Lit 900 million and is by far the leading Italian airline. It transported 20,9 millions passengers in 1995 and is the fifth largest European airline in terms of passenger-kilometres after British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France and KLM. Its turnover, about Lit 7 830 billion in 1996 (around ECU 4 billion), is comparable to that of SAS, and slightly less than that of the Swissair group. The company’s network mainly covers Italy and Europe, but also 40 intercontinental destinations in North and South America, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East. At the end of 1996, Alitalia employed 17 390 people (as against 17 982 at the end of 1995) and had a fleet of 157 aircraft, most of them short- or medium-haul. With an average () OJ 346, 16. 11. 1966, p. 13/66. age of 6,5 years at the end of 1995, this fleet is one of the youngest of the European airlines. Alitalia’s capital is 90 %, held by the State holding company IRI (Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale’), the rest being held by private investors, among them several major international banks. In 1994, Alitalia absorbed its subsidiary ATI, which specialises in domestic flights, and in autumn 1995 transferred to IRI its majority holding (56 %) in ‘Societa Aeroporti di Roma’. It has 100 % control of the company Avianova, a third-level air carrier which in July 1996 became Alitalia Team S.p.A. (hereinafter: ‘Alitalia Team’) and has a 45 % holding in the charter company Eurofly, a 27,61 % holding in Air Europe and a 30 % holding in the Hungarian national airline Malev. Alitalia also has holdings in companies whose business is related to air transport: Atitech (100 %); Racom Teledata (93,8 %), which in turn owns 9 % of the computerized reservation system Galileo; Italiatour (99,67 %), Sisam (60 %) and the airport management companies in Naples, Genoa, Turin, Florence, Lamezia Terme and Rimini. The carriage of goods and passengers by air nevertheless makes up 92 % of the group’s total turnover. Lastly, apart from limited agreements with the US company Continental for traffic between Italy and the USA and with the company Air France, Alitalia has not so far allied itself with major partners. Amounting to about Lit 5000 billion in 1990, Alitalia’s turnover increased by 53 % in nominal value between 1990 and 1995. Its net fixed assets rose from Lit 2701 billion in 1990 to Lit 4 851 billion in 1995. The numbers of available tonne-kilometres and tonne-kilometres carried increased by 29,5 % and 39,5 % over the same period, during which time the company also acquired 69 new aircraft. This increase in business must not, however, hide the difficulties which Alitalia, like most of the Euro- pean national airlines, has had to face as a result of the