Former Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh, who is now CEO designate of British Airways, has welcomed the Government's decision to sell a majority stake in the airline.
Speaking in Cork, where he was addressing a Chambers of Commerce of Ireland conference, Mr Walsh said the company needed greater certainty around access to capital if it was to develop and capitalise on the work done in recent years.
He also questioned the Government's decision to retain at least 25% of the equity 'in order to block any decision of the majority shareholder'. Mr Walsh said this would do little to encourage interest in the sale or maximise the value to Aer Lingus.
He added that it was 'somewhat regrettable' that the Government intended to appoint another set of financial consultants to advise it on the issue. 'Both the Government and Aer Lingus have spent literally millions of euro since the late 1990s on this issue and I don't think there has been any tangible benefit to all of that money that has been spent'.
Meanwhile Aer Lingus has announced the introduction of two new routes from Dublin to Krakow, Poland and Almeria, Spain for its winter schedule.
These new destinations brings to ten the number of new routes introduced so far this year, although earlier this month the airline said it was halting its service to Orlando in the US from next January.
The Krakow and Almeria will start from the end of October. The airline will operate three services a week from Dublin to Krakow - Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The Dublin Almeria routes will operate two weekly - on Wednesday and Saturday.
