The European Commission has promised to consider as quickly as possible the Belgian government's decision to give its national airline, Sabena, a bridging loan worth €125 million (£98.45 million).
A spokesman for the Transport Commissioner, Ms Loyola de Palacio, confirmed that the commissioner had received a formal complaint about the Belgian decision from Ryanair.
"When we are notified of the details of the Belgian decision, we'll consider it.
"If we accept it, I suppose we'll inform Ryanair and they can challenge us in the courts. If we reject it, Ryanair will be happy that we have agreed with them," the spokesman said.
Belgium's finance minister, Mr Didier Reynders, yesterday defended his government's decision, which should ensure that Sabena can continue to fly for another month. Sabena filed for bankruptcy after its partner, Swissair, itself in serious financial difficulties, withdrew an offer of a cash injection.
"The bridge financing is in line with European regulations; it is bridge financing for a company with a specific problem.
"It is not a general intervention, it is a loan for one month," Mr Reynders said.
He said that the US decision to offer $15 billion (€16.4 billion) in emergency aid to US airlines had consequences for European carriers.
"Is it possible to have European airlines with problems and without any intervention from the states or from the European Union at the same time that we can see in the US economy or in Switzerland that some public authorities are giving new aid for companies?" Mr Reynders said.
The Swiss government yesterday defended its decision to grant a loan worth about €300 million to Swissair, saying that it did not breach a planned agreement with the EU that limits state aid to airlines.
Swissair resumed flights yesterday after a two-day shutdown.
But although the company is flying again, analysts and investors still reckon Swissair Group's total assets will not cover liabilities, and the share market is attributing almost no value to the company.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines yesterday reduced its schedule for the second time since the attacks, taking its cuts from 5 to 15 per cent of capacity for winter.
KLM said the September 11th attacks had "severely disrupted operations", would cost it at least €50 million in earnings and that worse could still come.
"More far-reaching measures may have to follow in view of the uncertainty on further developments in the global airline industry," KLM said. - (Additional reporting Reuters)
