@ayroplain....my figures are very rough. The FY2013 results stated Euro 1.02Bn in cash reserves......I subtracted 191m (very badly) from a billion.

The unions had already agreed to the previous LRC recommendation in principle. I guess a salary freeze for 3 years to protect your pension is a small price. (on top of an already 6 years pay freeze already in place in EI)

They paid tax of the employees of which they have no legal obligation to pay.

The management yet again given employees money belonging to the shareholders and NOBODY held accountable for it.

I would agree Racedo with the "nobody held accountable for it". However I look at it from a slightly different angle.

The Mgmt team under Dermot Mannion came up with the 'leave and return scheme'......at some point someone in mgmt must have raised the question of possible tax implications. We will never know. Nonetheless the Mgmt team (with the blessing of the then CEO) gave assurances to the staff (who had tax concerns themselves) the this scheme was all above board and would result in no tax penalties for the individual staffers. In this way they got the staff to sign up for it. Someone then got a pat on the back and a bonus for the successful scheme to reduce annual salary costs.

The scheme backfired on EI mgmt and they were in a position of having to pay the penalty or returning to the original salary scales. So yes, someone/some people are responsible for the payout of that 30M. However I fear that the masterminds behind already had their bonus and had left before the Revenue caught up with EI. As I already stated the current Chief Commercial Officer of EI is the only senior mgmt figure who was involved in that....he seems to have escaped any culpability.

I do see your point on money being paid out. If the staff had blindly signed up to it and then claimed fault I would fully agree with you. However the staff did query the tax situation and where given assurances from EI that it was not an issue. SO my finger points at the mgmt team who gave those assurances in order to make their plan success without any long term thinking or future concern for the airline.

Given Union heavily involved in this I doubt that EI are culpable, Unions know the law better than management and happily went along with it.

Being reported in todays papers that Christop Meuller is to leave next may.

Aer Lingus - 6
 

http://www.thejournal.ie/mueller-to-leave-aer-lingus-1577862-Jul2014/

What's really going on at EI?

Aer Lingus executive seeks High Court injunction to save job

You got to love the journos. I think AM was the only one that wanted to wind down and leave. All the rest have been pushed in some shape or form. I can't for a minute believe that the CEO is leaving voluntarily. Which other airline will pay him the remuneration he is currently on plus all the options?

H1 losses down 40% to 9.9 million
Strike cost 10 million
Q2 trading best in 5 years
20% profit warning issued in June, cancelled, profits in line with 2013 after good recovery since strike.

http://corporate.aerlingus.com/inves...ults_final.pdf

The new SFO route has exceeded expectations and strongly profitable in its first Q of operation and ahead of network average.

Hi

Do aer lingus have a full flight and cabin crew base at lgw or is it crewed by dub based staff overnighting?

Full crew base for LGW. They can be called in for LHR rotations too afaik.

Aer Lingus to launch new North America routes as profits hit ?39m - Independent.ie

TA expansion.....

Well they'l need to go daily on SFO. Currently that aircraft is used 5x weekly for SFO, 2x weekly MCO, so to keep MCO going they'll need another A330. YYZ loads warrant a 330 too apparently, so that's 2 needed, which would free up the DUB based 757. They could have a pop at UA and start doing IAD again. Dallas being implied in the article.... that would also need an A330, and possibly a codeshare with AA since it's their HQ and largest hub.

I always thought MIA would work from DUB, especially with the pre-clearance. Customs is by far the worst part of the MIA experience. A 4x weekly 330 to MIA and 3x weekly to MCO maybe?

CEO:
I would agree with the above that the departure of the CEO is a little unexpected......however he has been in place 5 years and has fulfilled most of his goals. From the start he was due to last 4-5 years. So its doesn't look to me that he is being pushed, more like "thanks for all the hard work, bye now" Personally I would have preferred to see him extend his contract. But that's life.

IT article:
I think the problem now for EI is whether the replacement is a belt tightener or an exec with vision who can build on the solid financial position that Mueller has established. Looking at the article about the Chief of Marketing being pushed doesn't ode well in my opinion. I feel that the EI marketing/brand image has been on the money over the last few years.

New routes:
The Chief Commercial Officer previously stated "East coast or Florida" are being looked at for expansion. So its a toss up between FLL or MIA. I think FLL would allow them to connect to the Gulf cruise traffic and JetBlue's services from FLL.
MIA seems less likely to me as it doesn't lead anywhere. I don't think a codeshare with AA would be probable. While EI is not in an alliance this move could annoy current codeshare partners.

I find the mention of Dallas intriguing. Might be more viable than the already crowded East Coast market.


Fleet:
In terms of expansion next year...I would agree that 2 extra A330's seem likely. I have heard whispers already of 1 already sourced. Daily SFO requires another A/C, this A/C could also operate 2-3 rotations to YYZ if required. New routes would then need a 2nd A330 in order to maintain current routes.

New North American Routes
 

Would Las Vegas or Los Angeles be a possibility?

Since he got the CEO of An Post it was bound to happen.

Dallas is AA's hub but Houston is UA second largest (bigger than EWR 385) with over 560 daily flights just behind ORD.

In general more Int carries operate from Houston than Dallas hence it being the largest gateway to Texas. Closer to home AF/TK don't serve Dallas, KLM are seasonal while all year round from Houston.

If you look at the 2015 schedules from MAY, YYZ is 4 weekly 752 and not daily. I agree the route is doing well however I can't see a daily 330 but perhaps 3 weekly peak summer months is possible.

All will be known by end of September!

Check your facts! He is not the CEO of An Post but the Chairman, not exactly a full time job, so it wasn't "bound to happen" as a result of that at all. Personally I think the recent pension-entitlement issue was the tipping point.

Chairman of An Post could be a sign that he is in line for a similar role in another Irish semi-state? Could you see him being appointed CEO of Irish water or ESB?

CEO or Chairman, once it happened most knew his time at EI was running out. Your may be right about why he is leaving however his own pension package and how it went down with shareholders could be a factor to!

Agreed, we're talking about the same pension-entitlement issue! Sorry if I wasn't clear about that.

Personally you are wrong. Mueller stated from the onset he could turnaround the business which he has, he never stated he could continue that once Aer Lingus was well into lucrative profitability as it currently is. Mueller has set three targets to staff before he leaves, 1) successful resolution to the IASS dispute in Nov/Dec - 2) Final judgment on Ryanair's shareholding in Jan which Mueller intents to allow those shares float into the free market. 3) To ensure continued turnaround of CORE is completed/fulfilled.

That's why there is a move to replace the management team with higher proven track record of people who ensured sustained profitability. There is nothing wrong with that and Aer Lingus' mission now is clear.

EI139 is showing as a 757 for next summer, which would mean a 330 would be freed up to increase SFO to daily and launch FLL/MIA. The extra rumoured 330 could then be used for a Texan route, add a rumoured extra frequency to MCO, and provide some slack to the schedule for maintenance etc.