Aer Lingus close to unveiling new chief
Saturday July 04 2009
Aer Lingus could announce the appointment of its new chief executive towards the end of next week after a three-month search.
It's believed the competition to appoint a successor to Dermot Mannion, who stepped down as boss of the airline last April, has been whittled down to two candidates. Sources have said that the likelihood is that the appointment will be announced towards the end of the coming week.
One of the front-runners for the job is Aer Lingus chief financial officer Sean Coyle. Previously the chief financial officer of Ryanair, Mr Coyle defected to Aer Lingus just over a year ago. He recently added control of short-haul operations at Aer Lingus to his portfolio.
Candidates
Other likely candidates for the post are believed to have been former Aer Lingus executives Brian Dunne and Seamus Kearney. Both served under Willie Walsh. Mr Dunne, formerly CFO with Aer Lingus, stepped down from the board of Air Canada last September after two years. He remains, however, the CFO of ACE Aviation, which has a 75pc interest in Air Canada.
The new Aer Lingus chief executive will face a battle to slash costs and stem losses at the airline, which is expected to be about €120m in the red this financial year.
The carrier recently announced that it will cut winter long-haul services from Shannon and Dublin to US cities including Chicago, Washington and San Francisco. It's also likely that services between Shannon and JFK will be suspended for the season.
- John Mulligan
