Irish parliament clears IAG for take-off in buyout of Aer Lingus
THE Irish parliament yesterday gave British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines’ (IAG) bid for Aer Lingus the final go-ahead.
Irish MPs voted by a majority of 23 according to local media reports, ending two days of tense negotiations. The vote comes after the Irish government agreed to sell its 25 per cent in Aer Lingus to IAG earlier this week, saying that IAG had made “a number of extremely important changes” to its initial offer. The government said it did not foresee any redundancies and that another 635 jobs could be created by 2020.
Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington praised the deal, saying it would benefit “shareholders, its employees, its customers and Ireland”.
IAG now needs to buy the stake owned by Ryanair, which has 29 per cent of Aer Lingus’s shares.
If the deal completes Aer Lingus will be back under the leadership of Willie Walsh, IAG’s chief, who led Aer Lingus from 2001 to 2005.