MOL plays rough with Aer Lingus (again)

Its never a slow news day when MOL opens his mouth is it? His latest move really demonstrates how fiendishly clever he is. Ryanair handed its votes on the issue of director pay at Aer Lingus to the Irish government. This forces the state, and major shareholder, to decide whether the stricken airline's board members are paid too much in an unfettered way. No matter what happens with this vote, MOL wins.

Ryanair proposed cutting the salary of the former state airline's chairman Colm Barrington to just €35,000 ($50,000) a year in a bid to cut costs. No surprise, Aer Lingus rejected this proposal, and so now Ryanair wants Irish Transport Minister and 25% stake-holder Noel Dempsey to decide how the voting should go. Dempsey will want to vote in favor of Aer Lingus' management. But if he does, the state looks downright foolish and pandering. Readers no doubt know the Irish economy is in the tank and a vote for Aer Lingus will quickly be painted as more frivolous state spending.

"The fact that the board of Aer Lingus has refused to reduce its directors' fees... in recognition of the urgent need to reduce costs in the face of rising losses... leaves it with little or no credibility when it comes to negotiating further cost reductions with its workforce and trade unions," MOL said in a statement.

He said the way Dempsey decided to use the near 55% of the votes at next Friday's annual general meeting would also determine the credibility of the government. In chess this would easily qualify as check mate. A brilliant move by MOL and totally out of the box thinking.

In other news --

• OnAir wins EgyptAir
• Frontier reports profit - 6 times in a row
• Piasecki combo-chopper test video
• Emirates tips its hand

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