Hidalgo (Globalia): "Nobody intervened to rescue Air Europa"

The president of Globalia assures that he himself guaranteed the credit that the airline received with his assets

SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS (DOMINICAN REPUBLIC), June 30. () –

Globalia’s president, Juan José Hidalgo, has argued that “nobody intervened in Air Europa to carry out any rescue,” but that it received a loan guaranteed by its own assets.

“Air Europa was not bailed out. Air Europa received the largest financial contract of any airline, which was personally backed by my assets,” said Hidalgo, who spoke to the media in Santiago de los Caballeros (Dominican Republic) on the occasion of the inauguration of the company’s new route between Madrid and the Dominican city.

The manager has also added that it is a loan “with high interest” and for which the company has already repaid 300 million, and has clarified, given the information that has emerged in recent weeks, that there was no third-party mediation to obtain that loan.

The founder of Air Europa was referring to the 616 million euros he received due to the pandemic, 475 of them through the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies charged to the SEPI – with expiration in 2026 – and 141 million through a syndicated loan from several banks guaranteed by the Official Credit Institute (ICO).

Hidalgo also added that he has not been given “a single euro”, “neither by the Government nor by any Spaniard” and argued that he has “saved the Spanish people a lot of money” thanks to the competition he established after the creation of Air Europa.