20/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the European Commission authorised temporary aid to rescue the German air transport company, LTU (Lufttransport Unternehmen GmbH). The aid should allow it to avoid bankruptcy and to win time to define the legal, economic and financial arrangements for restructuring. Funding of EUR 120 million, guaranteed by North Rhine-Westphalia, can now be released by three banks over the next six months. The situation of LTU became acute when Swissair announced a request for a stay of bankruptcy in October, in the difficult context following the attacks of 11 September.