Spanish government bails out airline Volotea with 200 million euro loan

MADRID (Reuters) -The Spanish government has approved a 200 million euro ($214 million) rescue loan to privately owned Spanish airline Volotea to help it recover from the pandemic crisis, the Prime Minister's office said.

Company shareholders will add 10 million euros in cash to buoy the airline, which operates within Spain and to and from several other European cities.

"It will allow solid growth of the company in the long run," Volotea said in a statement.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, which has ravaged the airlines industry, the Spanish government has provided financial support to two other privately held airlines with operations in Spain, Plus Ultra and the larger Air Europa, which is in the process of being taken over by IAG.

($1 = 0.9355 euros)

(Reporting by Christina Thykjaer; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)