The bailout of the Czech airline Smartwings appeared to pick up pace over the weekend when the vice premier Karel Havlíček announced that the state could take a 100 percent share in the company. Smartwings is owned by two Czech business moguls and the Chinese state conglomerate Citic. A working group has been created to discuss various scenarios on how to proceed: these include the state lending the needed money against all the shares in the company which would be held as collateral, or else the state could buy the entire company. If the state were to take full control of the company, said Havlíček, the price would have to be close to zero and it would still cost the state billions and crowns to get the airline back on the air. “It’s a question of investments that could of course make a return,” he told Czech Television. “Because the idea is to provide funds today and then a certain time to sell them when it’s possible to make a profit. I’m not saying that’s how it’s going to be, but I’m protecting the interests of the transport and industry sectors…I think that it’s necessary to save this company and not only this one but possibly others as well.”
