It seems that the Irish government has declared Aer Lingus not to be in it’s fiscal future according to RTE.
Whilst no decision had been made, and there were some issues about the current value of the holding. The Irish State currently holds 25% of the airline, with the the government holding the ‘strategic’ no longer applies
Now you’d expect Ryanair to be over this like a lump of horse manure, but it seems they’re stepping back. In a statement, it would not bid for the 25% stake if the Government indicated that such an offer would be unwelcome. It also said it would work with any new investor and would consider selling its own 30% stake – subject to an acceptable agreement on price.
So who could want Aer Lingus with other flag carriers putting their airlines up for sale? Well Aer Lingus has something that a big airline who wants to expand would kill for: Lots of slots at London Heathrow Airport.
And who is after slots right now? That’s right – our friends over at International Airlines Group.
It would make some sense for them, least of all Aer Lingus used to be within the OneWorld fold before it went off on a low-cost strategy that whilst works to a point, is being smothered by Ryanair.
With a bit of cultivation, Aer Lingus could work out really well – and if IAG get overall control of the airline, it could really sew up the far westen of Europe like Lufthansa has done with Germany, Belgium and Austria, and Air Franc-KLM has done with France and The Netherlands.
This will run I suspect, but with a prime target like this, I wouldn’t expect that stake to be on the market for long….
