'I will walk if O'Leary takes over Aer Lingus'
Dermot Mannion, Aer Lingus chief executive, has said that under no circumstances could he work for Michael O'Leary, should the Ryanair boss succeed in his takeover plan for the airline.
Given that the government is noticeably more welcoming of the takeover idea since the last Ryanair bid two years ago, Mr Mannion also conceded that he has an uphill battle in convincing the cabinet not to sell.
While the Ryanair bid has not yet been officially submitted, Aer Lingus is currently preparing a "robust" defence document, which will be made public in early January.
He admitted that despite Ryanair being the largest shareholder in Aer Lingus, he has had no contact with O'Leary face to face, and said it was not possible to have such contact.
He said the company would prepare a robust defence document which he would present to government, but he also admitted that there was only so much he could do, and if the government accepted the bid, then his time with Aer Lingus would be over.
When asked could he see himself remaining in Aer Lingus if Ryanair took over, he simply said: "No, absolutely not".
Mr Mannion did, however, concede that he was ultimately powerless to stop the takeover, if the government agrees to it. He said: "I don't think this is a good time to sell any asset. Look, I can't influence what shareholders do, beyond a certain point. I can meet them, I can persuade them, I can set out our argument but, at the end of the day, it will be their decision."
Mr Mannion acknowledged Ryanair's contribution to European aviation but said it was not a good enough reason to let the takeover happen.
He said: "Ryanair have had a largely positive impact on European aviation, but that's still not a good enough reason to sell Aer Lingus to them."
Mr Mannion also said he had no contact with Mr O'Leary and had no intention of having any.
He said: "It's not really possible to have an effective working relationship at the moment. It's nothing personal, but for competition reasons. There are severe limitations to any meaningful relationships. I haven't spoken to Michael O'Leary face to face on any of these matters and I have no intention of doing so."
Mr Mannion said that if the deal went through, Ryanair would control over 80 per cent of air traffic out of Ireland, adding this would be "disastrous" for the consumer.
Speaking this weekend to the Sunday Independent, Mr Mannion said Ryanair's claims that there will only be four major airlines in Europe are "totally nonsense". He warned people not to take the idea of consolidation as read and he believes that a non-Ryanair-owned Aer Lingus would be one of 10 European airlines in existence when the recession is over.
He said: "There will be casualties at a time of financial crisis, of course there will, but at the end of all of this, there will be probably be 15 or 20 airlines remaining -- and Aer Lingus is determined to be one of them."
One key point that Mr O'Leary made last week was that Aer Lingus was a loss-making company that nobody else wanted, and this weekend Mr Mannion concedes that no other airline was looking to buy Aer Lingus right now.
On Friday, the Irish stock exchange watchdog on takeover deals said Ryanair broke stock exchange rules when it gave a number of commitments in relation to its Aer Lingus takeover bid.
Last week, Ryanair said it would give the Government control over Aer Lingus's slots at Heathrow Airport. It also claimed it would cut the airline's short-haul fares by five per cent and eliminate Aer Lingus fuel surcharges.
However, the Irish takeover panel said these offers breached stock exchange rules, as they were arrangements with one shareholder, the Government, and were not being extended to all shareholders.
- DANIEL McCONNELL Chief Reporter
