The European Commission on Wednesday gave a green light to the consortium of Italian industrialists bidding for Alitalia by ruling they did not need to repay €300m ($374m) of illegal state aid given by Rome to the lossmaking airline.

As Brussels was announcing its decision, wildcat strike action by a minority of workers protesting over the takeover caused the cancellation of 50 more Alitalia flights after two days of chaos across Italian airports.