Barrington to chair Aer Lingus

FORMER aircraft leasing company GPA high-flyer Colm Barrington is to be the new chairman of Aer Lingus, the company announced yesterday.

He will succeed John Sharman next month.

His appointment ends months of speculation over who would succeed Sharman.

At one point, the billionaire businessman Dermot Desmond was regarded as the frontrunner, but he is said to have turned down the offer of the post due to time pressures. Mr Desmond is a former chairman of Aer Rianta.

Mr Barrington is chief executive of Dublin-based aircraft leasing company Babcock & Brown Air.

He previously held senior management positions at the Shannon-based GPA, where he worked closely with the late Tony Ryan, founder of GPA, who worked for Aer Lingus, before he set up the leasing group.

Mr Barrington is also a non-executive director of the Dublin Airport Authority, but will resign that position before taking on the chairmanship of Aer Lingus.

More recently he was in the headlines for carrying out a report on the private health insurance sector for Health Minister Mary Harney.

His report concluded the market was unstable, poorly regulated and unpredictable.

It also urged the Government to increase the size and competitiveness of the private health insurance sector.

In its statement, the Aer Lingus board thanked Mr Sharman “for the huge role he has played in transforming Aer Lingus into a publicly quoted company, with a very strong balance sheet which is well-placed to prosper in the challenging times ahead”.

In a separate move, the group announced it was slashing fares on all of its routes by 20%.

The offer applies to the USA, Europe and Britain and applies to all seats between 1 September and 31 December 2008, but excludes premier class. The sale ends at midnight tomorrow.