Aer Lingus pilots say they intend to rival the management buyout proposed by senior executives and are mounting a concerted effort to raise finance.
On 6 July, Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh, chief financial officer Brian Dunne and chief operations officer Seamus Kearney asked the Irish government, which owns 85% of the airline, to approve a possible management buyout.
The pilots say they have been exploring "for over a year" the possibility of creating an investment vehicle for staff to enable investment in the airline "in the event of an opportunity arising". They have retained Dublin-based consultancy Chapman, Flood and Mazars to look for venture capital to fund the buyout.
Source: Flight International