Willie Walsh to meet Government, unions again over Aer Lingus guarantees

International Consolidated Airlines' Group chief executive Willie Walsh will next week respond to Government and workers' demands that the group bolster guarantees offered to win their support for its €1.36 billion bid for Aer Lingus.

Mr Walsh indicated that he has not given up on his group’s proposed €2.55-a-share offer for the partially State-owned Aer Lingus after it reported that 2014 profits were €1.4 billion.

Next Friday he will meet Irish Congress of Trade Unions representatives along with officials and shop stewards from Siptu and Impact, who want reassurances that jobs at Aer Lingus will not be outsourced, before they consider backing a deal.

Guarantees

Mr Walsh is also due to meet senior civil servants to discuss Government demands that IAG extend the guarantees it is offering on flights from the Republic’s airports to Heathrow should the group take over Aer Lingus.

IAG has pledged that Aer Lingus’s landing rights at Heathrow would only be used to service routes from the Republic for five years. Mr Walsh has said several times that he would be “crazy” to go beyond this.

However, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Paschal Donohoe said this week that the Government wants the period extended before it would consider selling the State's 25.1 per cent stake in the airline.

Meanwhile, Scandinavian carrier SAS confirmed that it would make $22 million from the sale of one pair of landing and take-off slots at Heathrow to Turkish Airlines, highlighting the value of Aer Lingus's rights at the London hub.

The SAS slots are for afternoon flights in the winter season, which begins on October 25th.

Heathrow slots

Earlier this month, SAS sold a summer-schedule slot pair to an unknown buyer, possibly a US or Middle Eastern carrier, for $60 million.

That deal implied that Aer Lingus’s 23 slots at Heathrow are worth more than €1 billion. However, the value of individual pairs varies considerably.

IAG, owner of British Airways, Iberia and Vueling, saw revenues rise by 8 per cent in 2014 to €20.17 billion.

Operating profit increased 80.5 per cent to €1.4 billion, while its pre-tax surplus was €1 billion, 5.6 times the €151 million it reported for 2013. Iberia’s operations generated a €50 million profit last year, against a €161 million loss in 2013.