Former chief executive of Aer Lingus and current British Airways chief Willie Walsh believes that the future of the Irish flagship carrier would be secure only if it merges with another airline.
The airline is currently fighting to save €100 million by slashing 670 jobs in Ireland, however the Belfast operation would not be affected.
Mr Walsh spoke yesterday at the Jim Kemmy Business school saying that various vactors had created an uncertain future for Aer Lingus, given the state of the economy, so the airline must look at a relationship with another carrier.
But the airline may face difficulties given the current ownership of the national airline in finding new investors.
Walsh said that the current shareholder being Ryanair with 30 percent, the Irish government with 25 percent, and the Employee Share Ownership Trust with 15 percent, he struggled to see how anyone would invest or want to invest with that sort of structure.
When asked about the proposed takeover of Aer Lingus by Ryanair, Walsh said he always found it a challenge as to why Ryanair would want to control Aer Lingus.
He said that there were serious competition issues and there was a significant overlap between the two carriers and the competition regulators would always struggle with that.
He continued by saying that it wouldn’t be impossible, but a merger between the two would be very difficult.
