Aer Lingus set to report operating profits of €64m
In two weeks’ time, it will report operating profits of €64 million.
This figure will be marginally higher when the profit from the sale of its charter airline business, Futura, is added.
With the success of Aer Lingus’ restructuring plan comes the prospect of some form of partial-privatisation of the airline.
One of the first areas to be looked at is the catering business.
With Aer Lingus’ major cutbacks on inflight services, its need to have a large catering division has diminished. Chief executive.
Willie Walsh is meeting with catering staff on Monday to begin a process likely to be painful and drawn out with unions strongly resisting any loss of jobs.
The idea of outsourcing Aer Lingus’ catering was first raised at the time of the radical survival plan but was postponed and is now being revisited.
A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus declined to comment on 2002’s figures in advance of the publication of its results on March 20.
“We gave an undertaking to staff and unions that we would not comment,” she said.
For 2001, the semi-State airline reported an operating loss of €50 million, but chief executive Willie Walsh has since implemented the plan to capitalise on the success of rivals like Ryanair with low fares and a reliance on internet bookings, cutting out commissions for travel operators.
Only last month, Mr Walsh said profits would be around €45 million, but it is understood better-than-expected savings on payroll have contributed to the improved level of profits.
Reforms undertaken in the last year included cutting 2,000 jobs in a desperate bid to stay afloat after the repercussions of September 11.
