Originally Posted by
linmar
It makes no difference if the AOC is UK (at least before Brexit), Irish or Norwegian. Norway is part of the EEC and implement all EU legislation in order to take part of the EU internal market. Norwegian Air Shuttle will have to follow the same competition rules as the rest of the airlines in Europe and state support is not allowed. Folketrygdfondet (the state fund) is the second largest shareholder in Norwegian and was holding 6,1% of the shares before the issue of new shares two weeks ago.
if private investors are not investing, Folketrygdfondet cannot solely take part in strengthening the finances of the company. The captial raised for SAS in 2009 and 2010 where the SE/NO/DK states funding half the money was not considered to be unlawful state support as the other half was funded by private investors. The capital SAS gained from the states were rather considered a healthy investment than state support.
If Folketrygdfondet is to invest further in Norwegian, the company needs confidence from private investors to raise capital as well. If that confidence is lost, money from the Norwegian state is likely considered illegal state support (if even offered). However it takes time before a decision like that would be final so if NAS is able to turn things around and become profitable again the company might be able to pay back any "illegal" state support received.
You could argue the EEC could also take a view if an airline was to saturate an airfield and loss lead seats in order to force another airline into leaving, or going bust, then upping the price once they have moved out of that operation.
And as commented above its not as though it's being done via the back door elsewhere and ignored.