Akerosid, what happened was entirely Willys own fault. He lost the run of himself when Tom Mulcahy was forced to step down from his Chairmanship. I am convinced Mulcahy was the only board member who had the clout to put a brake on Willy's ego. Without Mulcahy, he lost the run of himself. How stupid and naiive is that, from someone who was supposed to be a grand-master of the game?
You throw the blame on the unions? The simple fact is that in a semi state business, and in a political environment where the incumbent government has been soundly defeated in a by-election, the unions hand was strong and strengthening. This required care, and cunning from our Willy.
Instead of playing the political game intelligently, Walsh made an elementary mistake. He didn't read the changed political signals - remember Bertie allowed him to lock-out the pilots just 2 years ago- but this time he blabbed his MBO ambitions and handed victory on a plate to his enemies. Didn't he realise that the opposition parties would simply use him as a stick to beat the government with? He put himself in play and was way out of his depth.
As to the new terminal at Dublin. If SIPTU (and IMPACT) get any part of the the action it will be in partnership with the McEvaddys. Now there are guys who can play the political hand! I guarentee you the O'Leary plan will sink like a lead balloon (it is a crap project anyhow in comparison to the McEvaddy one) because, aside from the fact that their project is far better - they have the unions on side. I guarentee you the McEvaddys are good enough at their jobs to make sure the terminal is efficient, and is a success. Individual union members are being invited to borrow funds to invest in the project. Do you think they'll be likely to scuttle it, and lose their investments? No chance!
Its a win-win for the government. Meanwhile O'Leary continues goading and harrassing Bertie...just like Willy tried...the result will be failure for him. Deal done.
Walsh held up Aer Lingus expansion on long-haul routes...and as soon as he was out of the company he sent out rumours that he was starting his own LoCo long haul carrier...on the very routes he stopped ALT from getting onto. The result has been a setback of at least 18 months to 2 years for Aer Lingus, and even though he's no longer in the LoCo carrier market he has damaged Aer Lingus. All for what? He put his own interests (another big bottom line to flash around) against the interests of the company, by blocking expansion. Just one or two A330's could have started the process, but rather than lease on the currently deflated market, he preferred to play stick in the mud and try to intimidate Bertie with telephone number investment demands, hoping the government would drop the whole operation into his lap at a bargain price.
Willy is a one-trick pony. He knows less about BA than ALT and he's no longer playing on home ground.
He might get eaten alive if he doesn't learn from his previous mistakes.
Last edited by Idunno; 12th Mar 2005 at 15:04.