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:
All of the carriers, as part of the Atlantic joint business arrangement, sell one another's capacity on a neutral basis as if it is their own. It is a revenue sharing arrangement. It is what happens between Finnair, British Airways and Iberia, United Airlines, Air Canada and Lufthansa, and Delta Airlines, KLM and Air France. That is why I referenced the tension there might be if Air France were to undercut the price of a Delta Airlines seat. What we are discussing is access to greater market opportunities. This means that the Shannon-New York route has greater potential to be sustainably profitable in the context of IAG's proposal than on a stand-alone basis. There would be more people with a vested interest in generating revenue on it.