Aer Lingus profits expected to rise

AER LINGUS is expected to announce a strong turn- around in its trading position when it announces results for 2002 today.

The national airline currently taking the shamrock off the tailfin of some of its planes is due to produce operating profits of over 60m well up on earlier forecasts, it is understood.

This will be a major turnaround from 2001 when the group lost a total of 139m that included exceptional charges of 104m covering redundancy and other rationalisation costs at the airline.