Is airport pension plan to finally take flight?

The complicated nature of the Irish Airlines Superannuation Scheme was neatly illustrated on Wednesday at the Dublin Airport Radisson Hotel where Aer Lingus held a meeting to get shareholders' approval for a plan to contribute €191 million to a new fund that will replace the now insolvent defined benefit plan.

A large number of pensioners, who are facing cuts in their incomes under the proposals, were protesting outside the hotel’s front doors.

Standing guard at those doors were two airport policemen, whom, as one onlooker pointed out, were quite likely themselves to be members of the same scheme.

The fund’s membership embraces current and former Aer Lingus and Dublin Airport Authority employees, including security staff, such as police and fire fighters, as well as former SR Technics staff. Many of these constituencies have yet to have their final word, including, ironically enough, the security staff.

Given the twists and turns that this dispute has taken over the last four years, only a very brave soul would predict that it is all about to end quietly, particularly as some former and retired staff could yet take legal action.

Meanwhile, one question a number of people asked yesterday was "did they or didn't they?", referring, of course, to Ryanair and whether it used its 29.8 per cent to vote yes or no.

The numbers indicate that it did despite the fact that for a long time its chief executive Michael O’Leary opposed using shareholders’ money for this purpose.

Assuming that the airline did vote for the proposal, there are a number of possible reasons for its change of heart.

One may be that it believes a resolution of the pension problem will benefit the share price, and there is a risk that it will have to offload its holding in the relatively near future.

The other is that it may not want to be seen to be flexing its muscles while it is still fighting the UK competition case in the courts.