Apparantly, he joined Aer Lingus in 1979 as a 17 year old pilot trainee, whilst doing a business administration degree at Trinity College in Dublin. He rose through the ranks to become a captain, and then was 'seconded' to Futura to sort-it-out before being appointed chief operating officer of Aer Lingus in 2000 and then being 'given' the role of CEO in 2001. Not bad really. He did turn Aer Lingus around in the wake of September the 11th where most people thought he would fail. It's just such a pity that his name seems to be tarnished now by association wth B.A. I sort of think that he may have bitten off more than he can chew in trying to turn B.A. around..?
