Aer Lingus government stake to be sold to UAE airline Eihad-Update: New Ryanair bid

[Count Bobulescu]

Jet Blue picks up another award.

JetBlue earned the highest overall score in the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, which was released today.

The New York-based low-cost carrier earned 776 points on J.D. Power's 1,000-point scale.

ALSO ONLINE: Fliers' satisfaction with airlines drops, survey finds

J.D. Power broke down its ratings among two categories, separating the low-cost carriers from the "traditional network" carriers. USA TODAY notes "more than 13,500 passengers who flew on a major North American airline from May 2011 to April 2012 participated in the J.D. Power customer satisfaction survey, which the marketing research firm conducts annually."

JetBlue's score was just enough for JetBlue to finish ahead of Southwest, which scored 770 to place second, both among fellow low-cost carriers among J.D. Power's combined overall ratings. As for JetBlue, its first-place finish was its seventh in a row dating back to 2006.

JetBlue notes it also won the top-airline honor in 2005, when there was single category.

[PaddyJoe]

Ryanair says this evening it's going to offer 1.30 per share in a new push to gain control of Aer Lingus.

LONDON, June 19 | Tue Jun 19, 2012 1:19pm EDT
(Reuters) - Budget airline Ryanair said it planned to make a 694 million euro ($880 million) bid for Aer Lingus in a fresh attempt to gain control of its Irish rival

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...00035M20120619

[PaddyJoe]

I'm guessing that there's some connection here with the fact the UK's Competition Commission announced yesterday that it is to carry out an investigation into Ryanair partial ownership of Aer Lingus and its implications for competition.

Ryanair has been fighting with regulators over the stake since it acquired the shares in 2006 as part of a takeover bid that was ultimately blocked by the European Union. The airlines carry more than 80 per cent of the 370,000 passengers that travel between the UK and Ireland each month, the OFT said.

The UK Court of Appeal ruled June 1st that Ryanair did not have the right to challenge a lower court ruling that the OFT was entitled to seek a full probe from the Competition Commission, which is the UK’s “second-phase” antitrust watchdog.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking14.html

[Count Bobulescu]

Reuters --- update -1
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8HJHAB20120619

[C. Flower]

I'm guessing that there's some connection here with the fact the UK's Competition Commission announced yesterday that it is to carry out an investigation into Ryanair partial ownership of Aer Lingus and its implications for competition.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...reaking14.html

So, we would have all our air communications in Ryan's hands, and everything else in O'Briens. Nobody could call that a monopoly, surely ?

[PaddyJoe]

So, we would have all our air communications in Ryan's hands, and everything else in O'Briens. Nobody could call that a monopoly, surely ?

Nope. A duopoly.

[Count Bobulescu]

Ryanair still open to selling its existing stake to Ethihad etc.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/06/...or-aer-lingus/

[DCon]

So, we would have all our air communications in Ryan's hands, and everything else in O'Briens. Nobody could call that a monopoly, surely ?

O'Leary, no?

[disability student]

O Leary is offering €1.30 per share i think.

Aer Lingus cash have dwindling slowly as months go by and also the problem of pensions deficit as well.

In UK, they are investigating Ryanair's purchase of shares which they may think as dubious or illegal. Also EU are looking at various subsides that Ryanair availed of from various regional authorites in EU when they were setting up bases.

[Count Bobulescu]

It's a poor reflection on the IT when you can read a more comprehensive account of a proposed transaction between two Irish companies in WaPo, and especially when WaPo is relying on a AP report that was also available to the IT.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busine...OhoV_story.htm

But Ryanair said it’s confident that, even if the government balked, it cannot stop Ryanair from reaching the 50 percent share ownership needed to trigger an outright takeover. It noted that an Aer Lingus employee-controlled trust owned 15 percent of shares in 2006, but that trust was broken up in 2010, so this time it would be a matter of persuading individual shareholders to cash in their chips at a price that the airline’s stock hasn’t reached in four years.

[DCon]

CNBC just reported that Aer Lingus shares are up 22% after a takeover bid by UK airline Ryanair

[jmcc]

CNBC just reported that Aer Lingus shares are up 22% after a takeover bid by UK airline Ryanair

RTE is running something about Fianna Fail (who they?) objecting.

Regards...jmcc

[PaddyJoe]

There's no chance of Ryanair being allowed to take over Aer Lingus. This is a smart move by O'Leary to push up the share price and off load at least part of the holding at a decent price. It's all about an exit strategy.

[riposte]

There's no chance of Ryanair being allowed to take over Aer Lingus. This is a smart move by O'Leary to push up the share price and off load at least part of the holding at a decent price. It's all about an exit strategy.

That's an interesting angle PJ ...... but I think Ryanair will be allowed to go ahead with it in the wake of the forced consolidation of several other airlines throughout Europe and in wake the of the lack of viability in the face of rising fuel prices and the recession.

[C. Flower]

For Ireland - an island - to risk only having one air carrier (and an air carrier in private hands) would be a STRATEGIC MISTAKE of an order not as great as the Bank Guarantee, but similar - just as obtuse and negligent.

Only politicians at the service of the privatisation agenda / asset strippers would even contemplate it.

Remember Eircom ??

The alternatives are

1) It goes to Ryanair and we are screwed over by a monopoly.

2) It goes to another bidder who asset strips the company, goes bust and we are back with only Ryanair, and are screwed over by a monopoly.

3) Aer Lingus stays as is or is renationalised. We have two profit making companies, competition and service.

It is a matter of fact that the decision to sell off Ryanair is not the Troika's - it is the Government's - and can be reversed. It should be.