Aer Lingus and FLS will announce on Monday that they have formally signed the deal for the sale of TEAM to the Danish group.

The price FLS is paying will not be disclosed but it has been speculated to be approximately £25 million, although it could be lower now that due diligence has been completed.

The signing will bring to an end a long and often tortuous process. The aircraft subsidiary has cost Aer Lingus £190 million since it was set up 10 years ago.

It is understood that within 12 months two worker directors will be appointed to the new company's board. The company will trade under the name TEAM FLS Aerospace Ltd.

Once the deal is signed, workers will be entitled to receive their share of the £54.5 million which Aer Lingus agreed to pay them for transferring to FLS.

The cheques, averaging £35,000 per employee, will be sent out from Monday and the money being paid in a tax- efficient manner.

It is understood that only a handful - approximately 90 - of the 1,550 TEAM employees opted to reject the offer and return to Aer Lingus. Some of those who opted to reject the offer had long service; others had joined TEAM quite recently.

The fact that the majority have agreed to transfer should come as some relief to Aer Lingus, which originally would have been happy with 75 per cent or more acceptances.

FLS has always maintained that it wanted all employees to transfer to the new company, but stressed that it understood if they did not want to do so. It is believed that the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, approved the deal on Tuesday. The unions at TEAM signed a document of understanding and clarification with FLS a week ago.

It is understood that the document also put in place a bargaining council whereby the company would meet no more than 14 representatives at any one time.

This would comprise seven shop stewards and seven union officials, although the number could be increased if it was considered necessary.

Negotiations with FLS on selling TEAM began in earnest more than one year ago. An initial offer was put to employees, comprising £37.5 million. This was then increased to £54.5 million.

This money was offered in return for employees surrendering their letters of guarantee - that they could return to Aer Lingus if anything happened to TEAM - and agreeing to transfer to FLS.

Almost 60 per cent of employees refused to accept the offer to transfer when it was put to them. Following lengthy negotiations and concessions on a number of other issues, those who had not voted cast their ballots.

The eventual outcome was that the remainder - with the exception of 91 people - opted to move to FLS.

FLS Aerospace is a European aircraft maintenance group and is part of FLS Industries which is quoted on the Danish stock exchange.

It aims to become one of Europe's leading players in the maintenance sector and TEAM, with its excellent international reputation for craftsmanship, was extremely attractive.

FLS has a presence in Britain, where it is inundated with work and is expected to transfer some of it to Ireland.

Another attraction of the deal was that Aer Lingus gave a 10-year contract for maintaining its fleet to the new entity.

This is currently worth £28 million a year and will rise to £37 million within five years.