Mr. Stephen Kavanagh:

I will reference the Scottish example and come back to Deputy Noel Harrington in due course.

IAG has explicitly communicated a three hub strategy for its competition across the Atlantic, that is, Atlantic north and south. It has identified London Heathrow, Madrid and Dublin Airport as the three hubs that are central to IAG competing for a share. The impact on Scotland, the history of British Airways and the competitive dynamic in that marketplace are not matters on which I can comment. What I can say is Scotland is a significant source market for Aer Lingus in transiting passengers between Scotland and North America. I see no reason that would change. In fact, it would improve in terms of our opportunity to compete in that marketplace. Not only would we have British Airways selling Dublin on a neutral basis from Scotland, we would also have American Airlines selling seats to Scotland via Dublin Airport.

The issue for IAG from our analysis is competing for more of a share in the Europe to North America marketplace. It is not a case of simply adding Aer Lingus to the IAG group and leaving it at that. This is about growing the business. It is about passengers choosing part of the product offering by IAG and its Atlantic joint business partner, rather than choosing to travel on United Airlines from Edinburgh. This is about IAG diagnosing that the value proposition from Aer Lingus is capable of being competitive, that there is a growth opportunity and that ultimately two plus two equals five.

On preventing the disposal of slots, I have said the greatest protection slots have is delivering a sustainable economic return. In circumstances where that is not possible, it is, of course, at the discretion of the State to purchase slots or to introduce a PSO to ensure connectivity. Aer Lingus is a commercial enterprise.

As a commercial enterprise, one of the issues with the Ryanair shareholding was that some of the commercial decisions would have been conflicted and restricted. This is not to say Aer Lingus has immediate plans to dispose of slots. As I said, the slots are core to the Aer Lingus customer proposition, given that Ireland-Heathrow is one of the busiest air routes on the globe. It is also core to the British Airways network that Ireland retain its connectivity. Shannon and Cork airports are key source routes for long-haul flow through Heathrow Airport. The basic proposition is that the opportunity is to grow Dublin Airport as a hub. This would benefit Aer Lingus and, ultimately, IAG because IAG would increase its share in the Europe to North America marketplace. That is the economic and financial rationale.