Aer Arann chief says airline likely to go public and won’t rule out sale

AER Arann will likely go public, according to the airline’s chief executive who is not ruling out a sale of the company either.

Chief executive Paul Schutz also said Aer Arann will return to profitability next year and will likely break even this year.

He had fighting words too for his former Ryanair colleague, Michael O’Leary, who had predicted Aer Arann would “go to the wall” last year.

“We’re still here and we intend to be here for years to come,” he said.

The chief executive, who previously spent six years at Ryanair, said Aer Arann will not carry as many passengers this year as it did last year.

In 2008 it carried 1.25 million passengers, which was a peak for the airline. This year however it expects that number to slip to about 800,000 to 900,000.

Aer Arann has not modelled itself as a low cost carrier, instead opting not to charge for checked-in baggage or airport check-in.

Mr Schutz said the airline operates a niche service and he believes Aer Arann can continue to compete with low cost carriers.

“We only compete with Ryanair on one route and that’s the Cork to Dublin service,” he said.

He did not rule out ever selling the airline to Ryanair or any other interested airline.

“We will talk to anybody about selling but it’s a matter for the shareholders but nobody is buying airlines at the moment,” he said.

Mr Schutz said Aer Arann is also looking at re-introducing the early and late Cork/Dublin flights.

“We are looking very hard at bringing back the morning and evening services but we cannot operate at Ryanair’s fares. If the route does return it must be supported... if it’s not used it will disappear and it won’t come back again,” said Mr Schutz.

Aer Arann reduced flights from Cork to Dublin from five a day to two, earlier this year.

He also said that the company won’t go public in the next couple of years but added that he suspects that it will be “on the cards” at some point.

Aer Arann, which cut 100 jobs last year has no plans to cut more jobs or introduce anymore wage cuts.