Sky’s limit for former pilot’s career

WHEN Willie Walsh takes the controls of the world’s favourite airline in September, it will be almost four years since he began piloting Aer Lingus out of turbulence.

Over those four years, the 43-year-old former pilot has emerged as one of the most-respected names in the aviation business. He may not have the bravado of Ryanair’s motormouth boss Michael O’Leary, but such is his reputation that BA chairman Martin Broughton said yesterday he had “captured the very best person for the job”.

Mr Walsh was parachuted into the chief executive’s chair at Aer Lingus not long after September 11, 2001, when the airline was forced into another crisis. With the business in trouble, and rudderless due to the sudden departure of chief executive Michael Foley and the death of chairman Bernie Cahill, it was left to Mr Walsh to perform the heroics.

Its problems, which began well before the terrorist strikes, were serious. With passengers staying away, it burned through its cash reserves and was on the verge of bankruptcy.

While Mr Walsh may have been a surprise choice for the chief executive’s chair, few insiders at the airline doubted he was the best man for the job.

Born in Dublin, Mr Walsh joined the airline as a cadet trainee in 1979 when he was just 17. A few years later he became a pilot and rose through the ranks to management grade by the time he was 30.

Though flying was his passion, Mr Walsh also set his sights on rising up Aer Lingus’s corporate ladder. On the way, he picked up a masters in management and business administration from Trinity College. By 1997 he had given up flying and was appointed chief executive of Futura, the charter airline then owned by Aer Lingus, moving to Spain with his wife and young daughter. Recognising his potential he was taken back to head office at Dublin Airport and given the title of head of operations.

With no senior management in place to deal with the September 11 crisis, the board turned to Mr Walsh.

At once he recognised that if the national carrier was to survive, dramatic changes were needed quickly. The rescue plan involved 2,000 job losses and sweeping changes to work practices.

So extreme were the airline’s troubles that even its €1 million collection of Jack B Yeats and Louis le Brocquy paintings had to go.

Aer Lingus, he decided, would be the “few frills” airline. In 2003, the airline made almost €30m in profits and last year it more than trebled it to €100m.