LOL, I think the concept that Ireland must keep Aer Lingus in situ to keep Ryanair fares down is hilarious.
Like many, I can’t understand why the UK has taken this action and would like to know the real reason for it (we can all speculate, of course).
I would also ask why a few here appear to be happy with UK involvement (interference) in Irish aviation affairs especially when it has no conceivable relevance to its own flying public and neither the Irish nor European agencies agree with them.
I would further ask why some people believe that a foreign airline buying EI would be considered as better for the Irish flying public than a wholly Irish hugely successful and extremely well run airline in great financial health.
Much of the anti-Ryanair stuff that is posted here and elsewhere arises from the fact that their arrival on the scene (and MOL, in particular) sounded the death-knell for the old-style practice of running an airline for the benefit of unions and staff that precluded the vast majority of Irish people from being able to afford to fly. The huge and ongoing resistance to change at EI (forced on them by FR) has cost the airline millions in lost revenue due to strikes/threats to strike, the costs of redundancy awards, special payments, special “extra” payments et al. Not to mention the other millions wasted in fuel costs and ops for years forcing them to land at Shannon on T/A. The last thing an airline needs is involvement with Government, people with vested interests on the Board and intransigent unions.
For that reason, I'm out and, personally, would prefer that FR didn’t take over EI. The contamination risk for FR is too high, IMHO.