AER LINGUS may defer the planned publication of its full-year financial results for 2009 because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of a controversial €97 million restructuring deal.
The airline planned to publish its annual results on Tuesday morning, with analysts forecasting it will reveal an operating loss of about €85 million for 2009.
Senior management are believed to be considering postponing release of the financial statements until it has clarity on its cost-cutting plan, which was rejected last week by cabin crew.
Sources said there were two reasons for a possible postponement. Some of the costs associated with the restructuring deal might actually be booked in its 2009 results as exceptional items.
Also, senior Aer Lingus executives will want to have clarity on the restructuring deal before they engage with analysts and institutional investors after publication of its results.
Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller briefed analysts and shareholders about the cost-cutting plan in London last month.
Aer Lingus has until March 31st to publish its results for 2009.
Yesterday, Siptu members at Aer Lingus voted by 58 per cent to 42 per cent in favour of accepting the deal, brokered at the Labour Relations Commission before Christmas. On Friday, cabin crew, who are represented by Impact, voted decisively to reject the deal.
Impact had recommended acceptance of the deal, which was brokered at the Labour Relations Commission before Christmas. Aer Lingus management has signalled that it is working on a contingency plan involving more than 1,100 compulsory redundancies and a major scaling back of routes if staff reject the proposals.
It has not said what it would do in the event of the deal being accepted by some groups and rejected by others. It also said it would not comment on staff ballot results until all were complete.
Pilots and middle management grades at the airline have already voted to accept the terms. Craft workers, represented by Unite, are to finalise their ballot today.
In a statement on Friday, the airline said: “Aer Lingus now has the results of three of its five staff ballots. While the pilots (IALPA) and middle management (IAESA) have voted in favour of the proposals, the cabin crew (Impact) has rejected them. The remaining two ballots (ground operations/ support areas and maintenance department) are ongoing, and results are expected on Monday, March 8th, 2010. Aer Lingus will comment on the outcome of the ballots when all the results are known.”
For Siptu members the deal involves a three-year pay freeze, new work practice changes for some grades and pay cuts in some cases. Members who backed the deal include ground operations staff, head office personnel and some cabin crew.
Overall, the restructuring deal involves more than 600 redundancies at the airline.
Late last week Aer Lingus published figures which showed that passenger numbers at Aer Lingus fell by 3.5 per cent in the year to the end of February 2010.
The number of short-haul passengers fell by 0.3 per cent to 618,000 from 620,000 over the year, while long-haul passengers declined by 32.4 per cent to 46,000 from 68,000 in February 2009.
Aer Lingus’ overall load factor - a measure of how well the airline is filling seats - totalled 69.9 per cent, a fall of 2.1 points compared to February 2009, with capacity decreasing by 8.2 per cent.
Short haul load factor was 70.8 per cent, down 6.7 points on 2009, with capacity increasing by 12.7 per cent. Long haul load factor was 67.7 per cent, an increase of 3.4 points on 2009, with capacity decreasing by 37.5 per cent.