Spanish economy minister calls for common EU response to airline crisis

Spain's economy minister called for a common European Union effort to prop up the struggling airline sector with the aim of maintaining a 'level playing field'.

In remarks to Bloomberg, Nadia Calvino, said that one must look past nationalities so that different support packages and multiple levels of funding do not lead to competition problems.

Nevertheless, she reportedly added that the various carriers had flown into the crisis in different states of financial health and might therefore require different levels of aid.

IAG's two Spanish units obtained €1bn of state-backed bank loans to help their liquidity situation.

"The European Commission is keeping a very close eye to make sure there is no breach of the competition rules and that we don’t end up with a very unlevel playing field because of the different capacity of government to support the different airlines," she said.

"They are all hit in the same manner. We should provide a European response."