Ryanair is Aer Lingus’s best bet, says O’Leary

RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary has reiterated his belief, in front of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, that his airline’s €1.40 per share takeover offer was the best way for Aer Lingus to effectively grow as a business in the coming years.

Arguing that British Airways, Air France, Lufthansa and Ryanair will be the four big European airlines after merger and consolidation in the European aviation sector in the coming years, Mr O’Leary said that Ireland will be one of four countries represented by one of the ‘big four’ and that a deal with Ryanair provides an opportunity to allow Aer Lingus to share in that success.

Strong opposition from members of the committee included the statement that it is, apparently, in the national interest for two separately owned Irish airlines to exist in competition and the accusation that Ryanair was looking to kill off the same competition in the Irish market that it had helped introduce 20 years ago.