Aer Lingus flotation would never have sold

You have to hand it to Aer Lingus. It takes some effort to reduce the value of a company by 40 per cent in a year, particularly as a State-sponsored monolith. It's not as if executives have had to contend with the vagaries of the stock market as their peers in technology have.

Only last year, as the company readied itself for flotation, its value was put as high as £500 million (€635 million). Now, its highest expectations amount to £300 million.

Hardly surprising, then, that Mary O'Rourke has cooled on the idea of flotation and seems now more interested in a trade sale. Persuading someone in the business to take over the company, industrial relations disaster that it is, will be difficult enough. At least, it can offer a surprisingly loyal customer base and some valuable landing slots. Trying to fob it off on a public disillusioned by the Eircom fiasco and listening daily to allegations of inappropriate behaviour at the highest echelons of the organisation would be an altogether tougher challenge.