AER LINGUS’S senior executives warned staff yesterday that they expected Ryanair to make another bid for the airline sometime after the 12-month moratorium on a fresh takeover approach had expired.
In a wide-ranging online webcast to staff yesterday, Aer Lingus’s chief financial officer Seán Coyle said: “The likelihood is that Ryanair continuing to have a 30 per cent stake in the company means that they will be back again.
“They are prohibited from bidding now for another 12 months but in all likelihood they will come back again, and it’s important for all of the company to work together in order to deliver upon the targets we have set ourselves to ensure that if they do come back, we’ve proven that what we set out in our strategy to defeat this bid true.”
Ryanair last week conceded defeat in its €748 million bid for Aer Lingus after the Government, which owns 25.1 per cent of the airline, rejected the offer. It is now prohibited from making another offer for Aer Lingus for one year.
As part of the seven-minute webcast, Aer Lingus chief executive Dermot Mannion said 2009 would be “extremely tough” for the airline. “Clearly, we and the rest of the industry are hoping that 2010 will be better, but who knows?”
Mr Coyle said the “revenue environment” for Aer Lingus was “still extremely difficult and obviously the country is in the depths of a recessionary environment”.
“It’s vital that we grow the top line ,” he said. “The board has a vision about growing this business back to profitability.”
Mr Mannion praised staff for their involvement in a major cost-cutting plan that would save it €50 million and result in some voluntary redundancies. He described it as a “very painstaking process” and said he expected it to conclude in the “next couple of months”.
Mr Mannion said the airline’s planned new short-haul base at Gatwick airport in London was likely to be the first of many outside Ireland.
“There will be other short-haul bases across Europe as well. We believe the Aer Lingus brand can resonate across Europe.”
He outlined details of its recent deal with United Airlines in the US which would see it launch a service between Washington and Madrid from the spring of 2010, and said other long-haul opportunities exist.
“There are still unexploited long-haul growth opportunities from Ireland, so there’s lots to look forward to even in a challenging 2009.”
