Cut Aer Lingus Executive Pay, Says Rival

The main rival to Aer Lingus is calling on the company to cut the salaries of its most senior executives.

Ryanair, which has a 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus, has tabled two resolutions for the airline's AGM on June 5.

They want to see the Aer Lingus Chairman, Colm Barrington and its directors, have their pay cut.

The company said this was due to the airline's "stated need to significantly reduce costs".

Ryanair wants its bitterest rival to cut the pay packet of its non-executive chairman from the €175,000 he received in 2007 back to the amount of €35,000 earned by the previous chairman, John Sharman, in 2006.

It also wants to see a cut in the pay of Aer Lingus' directors from the €45,000 they earned in 2007 to the €17,500 they earned in 2006.

Ryanair says that any future increases in the renumeration of the both the chairman and the directors should not exceed the general level of pay increase agreed between the company and its employees.

However, Aer Lingus said that its board members voluntarily decied to reduce their fees by 20% in February.

"The Aer Lingus board believes that the existing non-executive directors' fees and chairman's fees are reasonable having regard to the high level of board activity and the increase in directors' responsibilities since the IPO," the airline said in a statement.

Yesterday, Aer Lingus was celebrating news of considerable success for its Belfast International Airport 'hub'.

It has clocked up a million passengers since moving a major London-bound air slot away from Shannon to the new Aldegrove base.

See: Aer Lingus Soars With 1m Passengers

See: BA Announces Record Losses Of £401m

(BMcC/JM)