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:

I am not in a position to put an estimate in front of the committee, but I would make reference to a number of historic transactions which would give an indication. The issue with slots at Heathrow and their valuation is that the valuation is critically dependent on the time of the slot. Early-morning arrivals, because they have the potential to serve, for example, inbound flights from the United States, are significantly more valuable than slots in the middle of the day or late evening. There are a number of time periods within the day at Heathrow where there is essentially no transactional value.