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Category: Archive

Airline alliance in works

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Andrew Bushe

DUBLIN — Aer Lingus, which carried a record 5.8 million passengers last year, is in "intense negotiations" with seven other airlines about a strategic partnership, according to chairman Bernie Cahill.

An alliance recommendation will be going to the government in the next few weeks, though any deal is not expected to take effect until next winter.

Cahill said the company has an "underlying robustness" and is now exclusively focused on its core business following the sale of its troubled maintenance offshoot, TEAM.

The company is engaged in a £50 million costs-cutting plan to increase its margins and has so far achieved £22 million.

The strongest growth was on routes to Britain, with passengers on the London routes up 9 percent and a 14 percent increase in passengers traveling to UK provincial destinations.

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TransAtlantic traffic is up 9 percent and numbers to Continental Europe grew by 11 percent.

Aer Lingus has announced new route plans for Los Angeles and Shannon-Paris and is increasing the frequency of flights to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

Pre-tax profits at Aer Lingus are up 13.7 percent to £52.4 million. This was achieved on a 12.4 percent increase in turnover to £901 million.

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