2010 a positive year for Aer Lingus

AER Lingus CEO, Christoph Mueller has said the airline remains committed to transatlantic services from Shannon, while he also expressed satisfaction with the Aer Lingus Regional venture, under which it runs a number of services from Shannon to Britain in association with Aer Arann.

In the CEO’s review in the Aer Lingus 2010 annual report, with regard to transatlantic services from Shannon, Mr Mueller said, “Aer Lingus remains committed to maintaining transatlantic flights from Shannon, where the airline has long operated services. However, the long-haul winter element of these services have been loss-making for several years and, in 2010, reached a point where they threatened the viability of the entire Shannon operation.
“It was for this reason that management took decisive action to address the loss-making element of these services in order to ensure the continuation of transatlantic flights to and from Shannon for the remainder of the year. We continue to build our network from Shannon airport and now provide the Shannon region with a total of eight destinations from Shannon airport, including new services to both Paris and London Gatwick.”
With regard to Aer Lingus Regional, Mr Mueller said it has performed well. “We established a new and successful Aer Lingus Regional franchise concept with Aer Arann in March 2010. We have stood with our partner despite the difficulties that they experienced during 2010 and we are satisfied that the franchise agreement continues to provide mutual benefits for both parties, as well as significantly improving connectivity for our passengers. The agreement with Aer Arann significantly increases Aer Lingus’ presence in the Ireland-UK market in addition to new seasonal routes to the Channel Islands and France. The concept is improved on an ongoing basis with new routes coming on stream in 2011.”
While operations in 2010 were disrupted by weather and the Icelandic volcanic eruption, Mr Mueller said it had been a positive year. “The story of 2010 should not focus solely on these difficulties. 2010 was the year in which Aer Lingus showed it could respond to these headwinds and demonstrate the true calibre of its people and operations.
“Most significantly Aer Lingus returned to profitability in 2010 following two years of operating losses, with an operating profit (before exceptional items) of €57.6 million for the year. It was gratifying to see that the corrective actions which Aer Lingus initiated in 2009 have delivered results in 2010.”
Mr Mueller received over €1.3m in salary and benefits throughout the year but he still lauded savings made on staff. “The continuing implementation of the Cost Reduction Programme was a key management objective in 2010 and I am satisfied to say that we made solid progress since work initially started on the programme in 2009. Although the group experienced a slight delay in implementing parts of this programme, it still achieved annualised staff and non-staff cost savings of €50m and €3.9m respectively. We are very appreciative of the support we received from our staff and their representatives which has enabled us to deliver the targeted savings for 2010. Aer Lingus remain committed to generating total savings with an annual value of €97m.”