RYANAIR SLOTS MOVE WOULD FACE OPPOSITION - The Irish Times reports that the Government and the Aer Lingus Employee Share Ownership Trust (Esot) are likely to block any attempt by Ryanair to sell Aer Lingus landing slots at Heathrow Airport.
It had been reported yesterday that Ryanair had offered to sell the landing slots at Heathrow in a bid to win European Commission approval for a takeover of Aer Lingus.
According to reports from Reuters, Ryanair has offered to sell slots at Dublin and Heathrow to British Airways and CityJet. But the paper says that is likely to meet opposition from the Government, which in the past has described the slots as a strategic asset.
'At the time Aer Lingus was floated on the stock exchange back in September, measures were put in place to safeguard against the disposal by Aer Lingus of slots at Heathrow,' the Irish Times quotes spokeswoman for the Department of Transport as saying.
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AIRLINES 'CYNICAL' ON COMPLAINTS - The Irish Independent reports on findings from the European Consumer Centre in Dublin which show that Irish airlines are the most complained against in Europe.
Last year alone there were more than 1,500 complaints and disputes. Some 17% of these were made against airlines based in Ireland, while 16% were against UK airlines.
The authors of the report said the level of complaints was proportionate to the number of passengers carried by Irish and British-based airlines.
The rights of air passengers are not being enforced by the authorities in each country, the report says. The paper says the report goes as far as to accuse airlines of a 'cynical approach' to complaints.
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SHAREHOLDERS QUESTION VIRGIN MEDIA MOVES - The Financial Times reports that Virgin Media's two biggest shareholders have voiced concern about its strategy and corporate governance in the wake of last week's disappointing first quarter results.
The FT says Richard Branson's Virgin Group, the cable company's largest shareholder with an 11% stake, is expected to raise questions about the direction of the cable company - formed by the merger of Telewest, NTL and Virgin Mobile - at a board meeting tomorrow in New York.
The paper says he is particularly vexed about Virgin Media's investment plans and programming.
It also emerged that Franklin Mutual Advisers, which owns just over 9% of Virgin Media, had revealed in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it too wanted talks with the cable group about its 'strategic direction, corporate governance and management'.
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MURDOCH JOURNAL WOULD TARGET FT - The Independent reports that Rupert Murdoch has promised to wage an all-out war to topple the Financial Times as Europe's leading business newspaper, if he gets his hands on The Wall Street Journal.
The paper says the pledge to bolster investment in the Journal's ailing European edition was one of several new attempts to curry favour with the Bancroft family, which controls the paper's parent company, Dow Jones, as they met to discuss the media mogul's $5 billion takeover bid.
In a 1,200-word letter sent to family members over the weekend, Mr Murdoch also promised them a seat on the board of his company, News Corp, and an independent editorial board to help protect the Journal's heritage.
