Mr. Willie Walsh:

I have always said there is very strong demand for transatlantic flights from Shannon Airport during the summer. I had the same debate at the committee with then Senator, now Deputy, Timmy Dooley. This has not reduced but increased and is likely to continue to increase. Aer Lingus should continue to serve this market and I would want it to. As part of IAG, looking to build on it and feed traffic into it as part of our transatlantic joint business with American Airlines, Finnair, Iberia and BA will enhance the amount of traffic that could flow through it. It is a good business. It was always profitable. While the seasonal variation between winter and summer in Shannon is very strong, Aer Lingus has come up with a very smart way of dealing with it, which has been very successful and would continue.

Aer Lingus has done some very smart things in recent years. When I left Aer Lingus in 2004, we were flying 1.2 million transatlantic passengers. We are now celebrating the fact that it has reached 1.3 million. Aer Lingus went through a long period during which it was not fully developing and exploiting the market and I am delighted to see that it is now doing so. There must be great potential to move it beyond where it is and the potential would be significantly enhanced if one could put Aer Lingus into a joint business with American Airlines selling at one end of the route to its massive customer base.It has 100 million frequent fliers in its programme. Being able to tap into the American sales presence, the BA, Iberia and Vueling frequent fliers in our programme, our sales and marketing team and our presence goes way beyond anything Aer Lingus can afford to do in isolation. I do not think BA operated any regional services from-----