Walsh beats off four other contenders

OTHER candidates for the top job at BA to be filled by former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh were Cathay Pacific chief operating officer Tony Tyler and James Hogan, a former BMI executive who runs Gulf Air.

Analysts also viewed marketing director Martin George and finance director John Rishton as possibilities for the job. Mr Walsh will become chief executive-designate on May 3 before taking on the role fully following Mr Eddington’s retirement at the end of September.

Since announcing his departure from Aer Lingus in November, Mr Walsh is said to have been examining the idea of a setting up a low-cost transatlantic airline operating out of Dublin. He is thought to have been working with two other former Aer Lingus executives, Brian Dunne and Séamus Kearney, who announced their resignations at the same time.