Earlier this week Aer Lingus briefed me along with other Fine Gael TDs on the proposals they have to try to stabilise the company.

Aer Lingus has lost €93 million in the first 6 months of this year. They are proposing to cut costs by €97 million per year until 2011. €74 million in staff cuts and €23 million in non staff cuts.

The deadline they have put on the discussions with staff is 18th Nov as the Summer Schedule needs to be fixed by end of November.

Aer Lingus Staff have entered discussions this week but there are no indications of what the outcome will be.

The greatest losses are on transatlantic or long haul routes (70 to 75%) and 60% of those were on the West Coast USA routes to LA and San Francisco.

The company has 34 short haul aircraft and 7 long haul aircraft.

I questioned their plans for Cork. They have 4 aircraft based in Cork and no plans to change that although the 4th was described as challenging due again to the seasonal nature of the business. The Cork London Heathrow route is very good they believe.

My impression from the meeting and from media reports is that the long haul flights are going to come under scrutiny first. The recession has seen the number of shopping trips to New York and Boston fall and the number of Americans tourists visiting Ireland drop.

The Government has not helped with the tourist exit tax.

Business Class is the most profitable class for any airline but the future will see video conferencing replace business travel more and more.

The recession will end but the airline industry will never be the same and Aer Lingus, that great iconic Irish brand, must carve out a new future for itself and that can only be achieved by the staff and management working together.