Aer Lingus has “no idea” whether it will reject a third bid by Ryanair

Aer Lingus CFO, Sean Coyle stated he has "no idea" whether the carrier will reject a possible third bid by Ryanair to take over the carrier (Reuters/telegraph.co.uk/The Times, 27-Aug-09). The carrier added that it is currently having difficulty obtaining loans from banks to fund aircraft deliveries, due to its losses. As a result, Aer Lingus now plans to make "major structural changes" to the business, including cost, job and capacity cuts.

Aer Lingus: "Ryanair will always come back with a bid, Ryanair from the point of view of having a (near) 30 percent shareholding will continue to pursue the company… Clearly we can't sustain operating losses of these levels, we can't sustain the kind of cash burn we've had in the first half of the year and we need to rebase our cost structure to live with the lower fares that our passengers are prepared to pay." Source: Sean Coyle, CFO. Reuters/The Times, 27-Aug-09