Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 February 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications

Proposed Sale of Aer Lingus: (Resumed) Aer Lingus and Stobart Air

5:00 pm

Mr. Stephen Kavanagh:

Aer Lingus made the investment in the aircraft leasing enterprise. It is not an investment in Stobart Air. It allowed us some control over the assets and we believed it was a good investment proposition. It has given the lessee, Stobart Air, access to new modern aircraft and improved the customer proposition for those carried on the franchise. It is a different proposition than an investment by Aer Lingus in Stobart Air. We invested in the aircraft. It is a leasing business and it just so happens that there is a crossover of shareholders from a Stobart Air perspective, but it was not and is not an investment by Aer Lingus in Stobart Air.