Mr. Evan Cullen:

In regard to the question on slots, much public comment has been made that IAG already operates on the Heathrow slots into Dublin in direct competition with Aer Lingus. People have reached the conclusion that if IAG is doing that by itself, why would it then reduce the slots. Members should be aware that the slots were originally BMI slots. IAG swallowed BMI whole and bought it from Lufthansa for a very cheap price. IAG was required by the UK regulator to operate the slots, as was, for a period. Equally, Virgin Atlantic acquired the remainder of the BMI slots and it was required to operate the slots, as before, for a period. Virgin Atlantic did not have short haul aircraft and hired Aer Lingus to operate the slots for a period, but the contract for doing so will come to an end in September of this year. In the public domain there is a belief that IAG operates on the London route at the moment with its own aircraft. It is important that is set in context against the requirements of the UK regulator in terms of the slots.

With regard to consolidation, somebody asked whether Aer Lingus would not have bigger problems there. I cannot see what problems Aer Lingus has at the moment. It is more profitable on a like-for-like basis than IAG, it has one of the youngest fleets in Europe and is growing. If somebody could identify the problem with Aer Lingus and that it needs something, then I would love to hear it. Aer Lingus has one of the best co-chair agreements with all three of the world alliances - SkyTeam, Star and oneworld. It has one of the best fuel-hedged contracts in Europe. Why does Aer Lingus need IAG? The only reason Aer Lingus might need IAG is to buy new aircraft. As I have said before, if one needs 40 new aircraft, one will always do a better deal if it is 400 aircraft. Aer Lingus has already solved that problem with its strategic alliance with Etihad. I know Aer Lingus and Etihad combined forces to negotiate with Airbus.