Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: Discussion

2:00 pm

Mr. Evan Cullen:

The reason it has not been discussed is that management have a huge conflict of interest in this entire transaction. The question from Deputy Doyle is absolutely valid. When British Midland was taken over and swallowed whole by IAG, the UK regulator demanded slots to be taken off the combined entity of IAG and British Midland. If one were to follow a similar model for an Aer Lingus consolidation into IAG, it would lose between five and eight slots straight away. These slots would be redistributed to other competitors on the route. The UK regulator would say they will be able to operate these slots for a fixed period of three to five years. This is the general template which has been used. The regulator has not said it will do this. This is speculation based on history. I do not know if I have answered all the questions.

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