A round-up of today's other business news in brief

Pension funds fall another 3% in December

Irish pension funds slipped a further 3 per cent in value last month, as equity markets continued to decline, according to an index by consultants Hewitt. The index fell by 34 per cent in 2008.

Betty O'Reilly of Hewitt said that at the start of the year, the average Irish-managed pension fund had a weighting of 15 per cent in the Irish stock market. This fell to a weighting of 7 per cent by the end of the year.

Westair posts losses of 1.22m in 2007

Executive jet charter firm Westair, which counts government leaders among its clients, recorded losses of €1.22 million in 2007.

Accounts recently returned to the Companies Office show Westair Aviation recorded losses for the second year running, having posted a loss of €246,520 in 2006.

The Shannon-based firm increased trade by 39 per cent in 2007, from €5.5 million to €8.17 million, although the accounting period for 2006 was for only eight months.

Aer Arann chief takes up position

Aer Arann's new chief executive, Paul Schütz, has taken up his position at the head of the regional airline, replacing outgoing chief executive Garry Cullen. Mr Cullen has joined the board as a non-executive director.