Alitalia said yesterday it had decided to seek damages against the European union for a ruling that the airline's recapitalisation plans amounted to state aid."The board has instructed the chief executive to challenge the decision taken by the European Union on July 18th this year which reaffirmed that the company's recapitalisation plan amounted to state aid," Alitalia said in a statement.The Italian carrier said after the EU decision that it was unhappy and was likely to seek damages and that the board would decide the size of the damages to be sought. In July, the EU's executive Commission said Alitalia could not receive an extra injection of capital from it's owner, the Italian state, because state support was not allowed under EU rules.