Aer Lingus sale

ishmael whale

In terms of allowing the spin to go unchallenged, this looks to be a prime example. The headline is ‘Aer Lingus will not be allowed to sell assets’, yet the Minister’s comment – that he would use his minority shareholding to oppose a sale – is far short of this. Clearly what the Minister is really saying is ‘If the new owners decide to sell the Heathrow slots then I’ll make a load of noise about it, but ultimately its their decision’. This only makes sense – why would you buy shares in an airline if the old owners were still going to be calling all the shots?

The quote from Dermot Mannion to the effect that Aer Lingus will have ‘a presence’ in Heathrow might also be significant, as saying less than it will have as great a presence as now.

Part of this spin seems to be to try to confuse the words 'major shareholding' with 'majority shareholding', even if the cited percentage makes it clear that the State will be a minority shareholder.

This is all against a background of the European Commission successfully challenging 'golden share' arrangements made by Governments to try to hold onto control of privatised companies. The simply fact is the Government cannot sell off most of Aer Lingus and and at the same time keep control.

Post sell-off, Aer Lingus access to Heathrow will be chiefly determined by the commercial reality of the situation. That’s not necessarily a problem, and perhaps the routes will remain commercially viable. But the media seem to be allowing the spin to go unchallenged, and this essential reality to be cloaked. I find the Examiner far from being the worst, but I guess there’s a little bit of TV3 in all our media.

http://www.examiner.ie/pport/web/business/Full_Story/did-sg6AIydB0iH1Usgdq-nXlDAyFE.asp

Aer Lingus will not be allowed sell assets

By Conor Keane and Michael O'Farrell

AER Lingus will not be allowed by the Government to sell off key assets such as its landing and take-off slots at Heathrow airport after it is privatised.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen yesterday declared that the Government would prevent the company from selling off such assets and that the Government will remain long-term shareholders in the company. .....

Asked would he, as the major shareholder post-floatation, do everything he could to stop Aer Lingus selling off its valuable slots at airports like Heathrow, the minister replied: "Absolutely. I don't see any reason why anyone would want to sell off those slots. We will make our position clear as a shareholder that we would not want to see such a matter unfold."

…… Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said yesterday: "Heathrow is a profitable operation for Aer Lingus. I expect that to continue. I expect Aer Lingus to have a presence at Heathrow into the future." .....

FlutterinBantam

I would find it strange if Aer Lingus ...whether Semi State or privatised would sell slots into the busiest International Airport in the world on the busiest international route in Europe on the route with the highest load factor on its network... but then again.....

Naked Lepper

FlutterinBantam wrote:

on the busiest international route in Europe

correction; frankfurt intl airport is busier than heathrow.

FlutterinBantam

Uhhm.. It may well be my man .but as I said London is the busiest INTERNATIONAL Airport in the World..and Dublin London is the busiest International route in Europe...uhh ... read my lips:D