Acting Aer Lingus chairman, Mr John Sharman, is likely to be one of the first people to see any bid for the State airline.

Mr Sharman brought a lot of experience in aviation when he joined the board last March. In 1985, he founded Spectrum Capital, a specialist aircraft and aviation financing group, which is a joint venture with Japanese giant, Mitsubishi Group.

Spectrum recently helped budget carrier, Easyjet, finance a $2 billion (€1.6 billion) aircraft purchase. Last year, it was one of the partners that bid for a €19 billion Royal Air Force (RAF) contract.

Mr Sharman began his career in the Far East working on financing assets for a Chinese bank. He also worked on aircraft finance for Guinness and Mahon bank and at Chemical Bank negotiating leases for British Airways.