The search for a permanent chairman of Aer Lingus looks set to extend into September after Mr Niall FitzGerald, outgoing chair of Unilever plc, declined the post.
The airline's board is currently chaired by Mr John Sharman, a veteran of the aviation industry. However, he is an acting chair and the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is eager to appoint a permanent chairman as soon as possible.
Mr FitzGerald was approached in recent weeks but he is believed to have declined the offer, citing other commitments. Mr FitzGerald recently took up the chairmanship of media giant Reuters, for instance. Unilever declined to comment on behalf of Mr FitzGerald yesterday.
The search for a chairman was sparked by the decision of ex-AIB director Mr Tom Mulcahy to step down from chairing the airline in the light of revelations concerning the bank in May.
Since then, several candidates have been considered. It is understood the outgoing chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank, Mr Seán Fitzpatrick, was approached, but also declined, although he is on the airline's board.
Meanwhile, the Government is expected to announce the appointment of Goldman Sachs as advisers on the future ownership options for Aer Lingus.
The Government has established a Cabinet sub-committee to consider various ownership options and Goldman Sachs is expected to make its expertise available to this group. Aer Lingus management, meanwhile, will next week meet a union delegation to discuss the 1,325 staff reductions it is seeking.
Managment has already told unions it wants a radically slimmed-down workforce by 2007. The current plan involves the worforce dropping from 3,993 now to 3,010 in 2005, to 2,709 in 2006 and 2,668 by 2007.
In information circulated to unions, management has signalled that every area of the operation will be under scrutiny, with maintenance one of the few areas likely to have slightly more staff by the end of the restructuring.
The plan envisages staff numbers in flight operations falling from 440 to 370 by 2007; flight services numbers are scheduled to drop from 1,024 to 770 by 2007; while catering is expected to fall from 249 to just nine people by 2007. Support services at the airline - finance, IT and human resources - are also expected to be hit, with numbers falling from 370 to 191 between now and 2007.
The staffing cuts are not just confined to the airline's Irish operations. The plan has the airline's North American staff numbers falling from 102 to 85. While the airline is highly profitable, the chief executive, Mr Willie Walsh, has explained that yields - an airline's average fare - are falling and costs must be contained.
He has told staff representatives in recent days that, with turnover coming under pressure and costs rising because of the national wage agreements, action must be taken to ensure the airline remains financially robust.
