Ireland tells EU it plans to aid Aer Lingus

Eleven EU member-states, including Ireland, have told the EU's executive commission that they plan to provide financial assistance to their airline industries, a Commission spokesman said today.

Aer Lingus to meet EU officials over state funding

The commission could begin ruling on the notifications as early as October 24th, the spokesman added.

Following the September 11th suicide attacks in the United States, which dealt a heavy blow to the finances of carriers worldwide, the EU agreed in principle that governments could help companies cope with higher insurance premiums for renewable periods of one month.

But plans for such aid need to be approved by the Commission.

The 11 countries that have so far notified the commission are Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Aer Lingus unions and management have been lobbying the EU to relax its restrictions on state aid to airlines at a "Social Dialogue" summit in Brussels today.

The campaign to secure more Government funding is being supported by a delegation from Fine Gael which flew Brussels this morning.

In addition the Minister for Public Enterprise Mrs Mary O'Rourke has vowed to battle for the right to give the troubled airline more cash in the face of losses running at nearly £1.6 million a day.

Airline representatives across Europe are attending the summit to discuss the crisis in the industry. They are due to finalise the text of a joint statement later today.

Meanwhile Labour leader Mr Ruairí Quinn today called on the Taoiseach to take direct charge of the rescue efforts for Aer Lingus and to make the crisis facing a number of European airlines his absolute priority for the summit of EU leaders in Ghent next week.

Additonal reporting by Reuters