Aer Lingus slashed its prices today in a bid to rescue the company after bookings were decimated by the terrorist attacks on America.
The airline said prices had been reduced by up to 70 per cent on 26 routes in an attempt to win back customers.
Passengers will be able to fly to America for between £169 and £249, return, and to all UK destinations for £59 return, including taxes.
The carrier has slashed prices on certain routes into the country by a half.
The move comes just days after the full extent of the crisis in Aer Lingus was revealed.
Bookings on transatlantic routes have fallen by 80% following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. On European routes passenger numbers have dropped by 30%.
Public Enterprise Minister Mrs Mary O'Rourke told the Dail last week that the situation was "very grave", adding that the company expected to make losses of £70 million for 2001, rising to £100 in 2002.
Taoiseach Mr Ahern said the embattled firm was losing £2 million-a-day. Cash reserves are set to run out by February 2002.
At least 600 job losses have already been announced and unions have admitted that they expect more to follow.
A spokesman for the general workers union SIPTU said: "It is patently obvious that when a company loses the volume of passengers that Aer Lingus has lost that the same structure cannot carry forward into the future."
Calls have abounded from opposition members in the Dail for the Government to bail out Aer Lingus.
But European Union regulations forbid states from propping-up national carriers. Mrs O'Rourke has said: "There is a clear position on such aid. Neither the European Commission nor the Government would support any return to a regime of state aid for unviable airlines."