Aer Lingus cfo resigns

New set back for struggling carrier

Sean Coyle has resigned as the chief financial officer of the struggling Irish carrier Aer Lingus.

Mr Coyle, who joined the airline in August 2008 will leave at the end of the month to "pursue other interests".

He will also resign his position on the Aer Lingus board.

His departure comes as the loss making airline is threatening to make "compulsory redundancies" after talks on job cuts with staff failed.

The carrier's newly arrived ceo, Christoph Mueller also warned this week that it was at risk of a takeover from bitter rival Ryanair.

Aer Lingus, which announced a 9.7% fall in income in its Q£ result sin November, threatened to sack staff after talks with the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA) failed to reach agreement by the airline's deadline of November 30.

It said the redundancies, perhaps up to 1,000, were likely to start immediately.

The cuts of part of the airline's Transformation Plan, which Mr Mueller launched in the autumn and which aims to save the carrier €97m.

Christoph Mueller

Mr Mueller warned this week in an interview in the Financial Times that Aer Lingus risked being taken over by Ryanair if staff did not agree to cuts.

Europe's biggest low cost carrier, has made two hostile attempts to buy its Irish rival, both of which failed.

Under Irish takeover rules, Ryanair, which has a 29.82% stake in Aer Lingus, could make a new bid in January.

But its ceo Michael O'Leary said in September that while it was prepared to invest more money and "rescue" its rival, a third takeover bid was "highly unlikely".

Its second bid of €748m - €1.40 per share - was rejected earlier this year by the then Aer Lingus board as a "rip off".

"I know that it is the desire of all our employees to stay independent and that is the reason I feel obliged to do everything I possibly can to reach an agreement with the unions," Mr Mueller told the FT.

"One group of employees is resisting and bringing Aer Lingus closer to a situation where we might lose our independence."

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