Aer Lingus employees are expected to be balloted at the end of next month on the latest recommendations aimed at solving the aviation pensions dispute.

Aer Lingus hopes to use any future dilution of Ryanair’s near 30% stakeholding to significantly boost the number of shares it has in free float.

A near 40% slashing of first-half losses has led Aer Lingus to reinstate original full-year guidance, after having downgraded its forecasts following strike action in May.

Christoph Müller is to step down as Aer Lingus chief executive next May, after five years in the job.

Aer Lingus management has said it "reluctantly accepts" a recommendation from an expert panel that it should pay almost €200m towards the pensions of its current and former staff — though its shareholders must still give the green light.

The panel that examined the €780m deficit in the aviation pension scheme yesterday said the solution it was suggesting provides the "final opportunity" for members to get their "optimum level of future pension provision".

Aer Lingus has warned it will not give any additional capital funding to address the deficit in the aviation pension scheme without "quid pro quos" — particularly in light of the costs incurred by the cabin crew strike at the end of last month.

The Aer Lingus roster dispute has hit the headlines, but the pensions row raises the prospect of further strikes, writes Stephen Rogers.

With just 10 days to go before a strike grounds up to 28,000 of its passengers, Aer Lingus has denied cabin crew claims they are having to work 60-hour weeks and accused them of trying to double their paid leave.

Support from Ryanair helped nullify Government opposition to Aer Lingus’ CEO Christoph Müller’s pension enhancements.

A Government bid to block huge pension boosts for the boss of Aer Lingus has been voted down by the narrowest of margins.

Aer Lingus has resumed year-round services to New York from Shannon Airport for the first time in five years.

Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller saw his 2013 pay packet jump by nearly 18%, helped by nearly €1m in bonus payments and pension contributions.

While the unions are eyeing the Aer Lingus cash pile to plug their pensions deficit CEO Christoph Müller is looking at acquiring European rivals.

Aer Lingus has resumed year-round services from Shannon to the US for the first time since 2009 after replacing Airbus A330 jets with the smaller, more economical Boeing 757 aircraft.

The bosses of Ryanair and Aer Lingus both did little to endear themselves to the public yesterday with one vowing to increase baggage charges and the other admitting he would like the bad weather to continue.

Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller has ruled out ever operating a flight between Dublin and Cork again, crushing the hopes of tech businesses hoping to capitalise on the new Dublin to San Francisco route.

The incoming chairman of An Post has warned that maintaining the existing post office network while still keeping the cost of its postal services affordable represents “a very fine balance”.

Aer Lingus has announced it is looking for 100 further voluntary redundancies as part of a policy to make cost-cutting part of the airline’s day-to-day operations.

An Post recorded an after-tax loss of just under €39.37m for 2012 and an operating loss of €17.48m for the same period.

Aer Lingus has welcomed a High Court ruling allowing it to increase the amount of its financial reserves that can be distributed to shareholders.

Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Müller saw his pay packet rise by over 4% last year, although his basic salary remained frozen below the €500,000 mark.

If Ryanair’s takeover of Aer Lingus goes ahead the low-cost airline will bear the cost of Aer Lingus’s €748m pension deficit, creating a clean sheet for Flybe Ireland.

Aer Lingus, fighting a takeover bid from Ryanair, said it is targeting more deals like a contract-flying accord struck with Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd as the sluggish Irish economy restricts expansion.

Spending tens of millions of euro fighting Ryanair’s takeover bids is hitting Aer Lingus’s profits and resulting in a lower dividend for shareholders, according to Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Müller

Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary has called on the Government to dispose of all state-ownership of airports in Ireland following its decision to grant independence to Shannon Airport.

Ryanair has offered to provide fully staffed aircraft to Aer Lingus if the staff of the national carrier follow through on their threatened strike.

Ryanair has described as “rumour and speculation” reports it has offered to pull a number of Aer Lingus routes if it is allowed to take over the rival airline.

The Ryanair boss’s proposals to take over Aer Lingus have been knocked back on two occasions but he refuses to give up, and it’s unlikely he would go to so much bother without having a greater purpose in mind, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Revenue from Aer Lingus’s long-haul routes jumped by almost a quarter in the first quarter of 2012 compared to last year.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has called on Aer Lingus to pay a dividend to the taxpayer for the first time in decades.

RYANAIR chief executive Michael O’Leary has criticised the Department of Transport’s choices for new executives at Dublin Airport Authority and Tourism Ireland.

AER LINGUS expects to meet full-year targets after performing strongly in the key summer months and achieving a pre-exceptional operating profit of €94.6 million in the third quarter.

AER LINGUS is optimistic that it will record an overall profit for 2011, despite reporting a 46% increase in its operating losses for the first six months of the year.

THE competitiveness lost during the boom years is being regained rapidly, paving the way for solid further growth, a new report said.