Aer Lingus flying high as airline names new boss
AER LINGUS, the Irish airline being pursued by British Airways owner IAG, has announced that Stephen Kavanagh will become its new chief executive.
Mr Kavanagh, the airline's current chief strategy and planning officer, will take over from Christoph Mueller, credited with turning around Aer Lingus, who is leaving to revitalise embattled Malaysia Airlines. Mr Kavanagh has been at Aer Lingus since 1988 and was involved in its stock market listing in 2006. He begins his new role in March.
However, his promotion may be shortlived as IAG's takeover pursuit of Aer Lingus gains support.
Colm Barrington, the chairman of Aer Lingus, said he was "particularly pleased that it has been possible and appropriate for an internal Aer Lingus executive to succeed to the position of CEO".
IAG has said its takeover of Aer Lingus is conditional on support from Ryanair and the Irish government, which owns a 25pc stake
Last week Aer Lingus' board strengthened its recommendation for a €1.4bn (£1.04bn) takeover and said combining had "compelling strategic rationale and will deliver significant benefits for Aer Lingus, its employees, its customers and for Ireland".
Aer Lingus has resisted two takeover approaches from its Irish rival Ryanair, which was last week told by the UK's Court of Appeal to lower its stake inAer Lingus from 29pc to 5pc. Ryanair wants to appeal on human rights grounds.
IAG has said its takeover of Aer Lingus is conditional on support from Ryanair and the Irish government, which owns a 25pc stake.
IAG's chief executive, Willie Walsh, launched a charm offensive last week to persuade Irish politicians that a takeover would be good for Ireland and AerLingus.
The former Aer Lingus pilot also addressed concerns that a takeover would harm Irish transport links by making fresh commitments to services from Cork and Shannon.
He dismissed trade unions' allegations that there would be up to 1,200 job losses at Aer Lingus and said jobs would be created in the long term as a result of the deal.
