A Ryanair-free Aer Lingus ‘in national interest’

You may love him or you may hate him, but the one thing you cannot do is ignore Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary.

He is also one of the airline’s major shareholders and given the size of the company and its success, that is no mean thing. He’s back in the news this week — he’s never far from it — after making a formal bid for Aer Lingus, the erstwhile national carrier, in which Ryanair already owns around 30%.

By offering €1.30 a share — in effect around 38c higher than current share value — he is apparently trying to secure at least 50% of the company.