Management at Aer Lingus say the outlook for the airline is highly uncertain following publication of the latest financial results.
The company has also said it can no longer afford to pay what was described as 'legacy-style' pay rates to staff.
The operating loss at the airline grew to €93m in the first half of the year, compared to €23m for the same period last year
The airline’s loss after tax in the six months more than tripled to €73.9m from €21.6m the same time last year.
Its revenues were down over 12% on the back of lower passenger fares and cargo revenues.
Read the half-year report
On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Aer Lingus Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle said its board had a tough job but he believes the airline can be made successful as an independent entity as it undertakes an 'exhaustive and wide-ranging examination’ of its operations and commercial focus.
Mr Coyle said: ‘Clearly we can't sustain operating losses of these levels, we can't sustain the kind of cash burn we've had in the first half of the year and we need to rebase our cost structure to live with the lower fares that our passengers are prepared to pay.’
The CFO said the airline is prepared to look at all areas of the business and the whole way it does business.
On finance he said that no bank is prepared to lend money to an airline that is burning through €400m of net cash in a 12-month period.
‘We have to come up with a cost plan to stabilise the position. Nothing is ruled out at this time,’ Mr Coyle said.
Aer Lingus said it is not in a position to give guidance for the full year at this time.
This morning shares in the airline were 7% higher after the announcement.
