Ms Lynne Embleton:

If the demand is there and it comes back, it would make absolute sense for us to preserve that in the best way we can. Again, that is my expectation, but it is not my commitment. While it is my hope and expectation, it is not my commitment. However, that is fully what I expect.

The Chair asked about bonuses to staff. Bonuses seem like a distant memory at the level of cash burn we see today. The concept of bonuses has not come into my head for as long as I can remember. Indeed, management is taking voluntary pay cuts to contribute to this situation. The question of bonuses is not in our mind at all. I would love to get to the point where we feel we are in a position to be able to pay bonuses to all of the staff. However, that seems a long way off today.

On the question of ATRs, as I mentioned earlier, we are restoring routes that were, for example, operated by Stobart Air. Many of these are “thin roots” that are best suited to smaller aircraft types. We are having dialogue to establish a new franchise partner so that the Aer Lingus network can have some of those smaller groups under the Aer Lingus brand. They would provide connectivity that our bigger aircraft would not justify. That is part of our dialogue with Emerald Airlines as a potential partner, as well as within our group, to try to restore some of the gaps that were left from Stobart Air’s demise.

Like Heathrow Airport, we recognise the importance of transatlantic. I hope and expect that when some semblance of normality resumes, we will be connecting Shannon with those important markets in the USA. Hopefully this happens before I am back to talk to this committee.