Ryanair presses case for ‘one strong Irish airline group’ with Aer Lingus

By Niamh Hennessy

Saturday, November 14, 2009

RYANAIR made yet another argument for its proposed acquisition of Aer Lingus – following the merger of British Airways and Iberia.

It said that it believes that the future of Aer Lingus can only be secured as part of "one strong Irish airline group led by Ryanair", which it said is capable of not just competing with Air France, BA and Lufthansa but of beating them.

Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said: "The Irish Government has no policy, no vision and no clue when it comes to Aer Lingus. The airline continues to lose money and cash, as it continues to be mismanaged by its Government and trade union shareholders, who control the board and management of the airline. Now Aer Lingus is isolated and being bypassed by the trend of European airline consolidation."

Meanwhile, British Airways will have to overcome union opposition and pension problems if its proposed merger with Spanish carrier Iberia is to go ahead.

The Unite union, already at loggerheads with BA over current job losses, said it would not back the merger unless commitments were given to avoid compulsory redundancies. Unite also called for assurances that passenger service standards in a merged airline which would become the world’s third biggest would be of the highest possible quality.

The other stumbling block to a deal that would create a 419-aircraft group flying to 205 destinations, is the BA pension deficit which amounts to around £2.6 billion (€2.9bn).

The agreement signed by the two airlines on Thursday night allows Iberia to terminate the merger deal if it is not satisfied with the outcome of discussions between BA and its pension trustees on how to fund the deficit.

BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the merger would be good for passengers, staff and BA shareholders.

He added that BA and Iberia, which carried a total of 62 million passengers last year, would retain their individual identities and that it was wrong to suggest the deal would take the "British" out of British Airways.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, November 14, 2009