WHENEVER AER Lingus gets around to unveiling the extent of its next programme of cost-cutting measures, we hope it will have the sense not to append a date at the end of it.
Just four months shy of the start of 2009 and PCI-07 has still to be fully implemented. It's a point that Michael O'Leary never tires of highlighting.
PCI-07 was designed to deliver cost savings of €20 million, a drop in the ocean compared to what is likely from the next round of cuts as the reality of high oil prices bites.
Staff are expecting some details to emerge in September. This will be the opening salvo in what is likely to be a long-running battle.
Last time around, unions could argue that Aer Lingus was profitable and there was no justification for cutting workers' take-home pay.
This time, however, chief executive Dermot Mannion will be able to point to mounting losses and a sharp fall-off in consumer demand.
The cuts are likely to be deep. Some analysts are predicting that cuts of more than €100 million will be required if Aer Lingus is to fundamentally change its cost structure and put it in the same ballpark as easyJet or Ryanair.
That would probably mean job losses and the mother of all industrial relations rows.
This is where recently-recruited Ryanair high-flyer Seán Coyle could earn his corn. We wish him a safe flight.
