Mr Michael Foley, president and chief executive officer of Heineken USA, has been appointed group chief executive of Aer Lingus. Mr Foley will not join the State-owned airline until the start of September but Aer Lingus said yesterday it still hoped to float on the stock market before the end of year.
Mr Foley had the "perfect blend of international business and public company experience to lead an already strong management team through the challenges that lie ahead", group chairman Mr Bernie Cahill said yesterday.
Mr Foley, who has worked for Heineken and its Irish subsidiary Murphy Breweries since 1983, has no experience in the aviation or transport sectors.
An Aer Lingus spokesman said yesterday the new chief executive had been head-hunted because of his background in senior management with an international publicly quoted company.
Yesterday Mr Foley said he saw his role as "leading the company through the period of change that lies immediately ahead and into a period where the airline can further exploit the opportunities in its markets and through its membership of the one world alliance".
Aer Lingus has been looking for a chief executive since Mr Garry Cullen resigned last February saying he did not wish to remain in the post during the gruelling IPO process.
Mr Cullen, who worked his way up through the ranks at Aer Lingus, earned about £112,000 (€142,210) a year but Mr Foley will be paid substantially more. He will not be subject to the guidelines covering the remuneration of State company executives and is expected to earn more than the £200,000 paid to Mr Gary McGann, who preceded Mr Cullen. Mr McGann, who was on a special contract, left Aer Lingus to join the Smurfit group in mid 1998. Mr Foley will have a similar contract.
The new chief executive is expected to join the board of the company ahead of its flotation along with Mr John O'Donovan, the chief financial officer. There are two vacancies on the company board and the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, has indicated she plans to fill them with two company executives.
The Government is not expected to allow Aer Lingus to introduce a share option scheme before the IPO but one is likely to be implemented when the company is no longer State owned. The Irish Association of Investment Managers guidelines allows for share option packages of up to four times an executive's annual package which could see Mr Foley getting share options worth £1 million.
