Walsh rules out International Airlines bid for Aer Lingus

INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES Group (IAG) chief executive Willie Walsh said yesterday he is not interested in acquiring Aer Lingus, or the Government’s 25 per cent stake in the airline.

He also said there was probably “some merit” to Ryanair’s argument that it should now be allowed to acquire Aer Lingus.

Mr Walsh was speaking to The Irish Times yesterday from Belfast where IAG subsidiary British Airways (BA) has resumed flights to London Heathrow after a 11-year hiatus. This follows its takeover of UK rival BMI, which had previously flown the route.

In relation to a bid for Aer Lingus, of which Mr Walsh is a former chief executive, he said: “I’ve said publicly that it’s not something we’re looking at. We’ve plenty to do with the integration of BMI.”

Mr Walsh said that parts of the Aer Lingus business would be of interest to IAG/BA “but the totality of the business would not be something that we would be interested in”.

Mr Walsh said it was clear to him that Ryanair was “determined to succeed” with its latest offer for Aer Lingus.

“His [Michael O’Leary’s] argument that the situation has changed has some merit in that the industry has moved along a lot. There’s also a different economic environment to last time,” he said.

Mr Walsh said BA would carry more than 500,000 passengers on its routes from Dublin Airport and Belfast City Airport to Heathrow this year. BA also inherited BMI’s daily flights from Dublin to Heathrow through the acquisition.

Mr Walsh said BA would like to continue to operate a code-sharing agreement with Aer Lingus on transfer passengers for its long-haul services out of Heathrow but would compete with the Irish airline for direct passenger traffic.

“We’ll be competing with them on point-to-point,” he added.

In relation to the Belfast service, Mr Walsh said: “I am delighted today to see the British Airways colours back in Belfast.

“I publicly committed to serving Belfast if we acquired additional runway slots at Heathrow and the acquisition of BMI has given us the perfect opportunity to make that happen.”