Aer Lingus gave FLS 10-year contract for maintenance

Receipt of a multi-million pound contract to service Aer Lingus planes was a condition of the deal which will see Danish aerospace company FLS Industries take over TEAM, the FLS chairman Mr Steffen Harpoth said yesterday.

He was speaking after the two companies signed heads of agreement for the takeover as 92 per cent of TEAM workers opted to transfer to FLS.

The final contracts should be signed by the end of September.

As part of the deal Aer Lingus will leave the maintenance of its aircraft with FLS for 10 years. This work currently worth £28 million a year, will increase to £37 million a year within five years.

Mr Harpoth said this contract was a condition of the deal and made perfect sense. "Who better than Aer Lingus personnel who are the most qualified to service their own planes?" he said. "In addition the contract will give stability to the company."

Mr Harpoth again promised that FLS would invest several million pounds in TEAM. Although declining to specify a figure, he said FLS had invested £20 million in its operations in Britain last year.

Mr Harpoth said FLS wanted to be a market leader and had been very keen to acquire TEAM which, he added, had a very highly skilled workforce with a great reputation for quality workmanship. There would be instant synergies between the plants in Britain and Ireland, he said.

He added that FLS would still seek to acquire further businesses, both in Continental Europe and the US. The sides have not disclosed the price for TEAM, but it is said to be around £25 million.

Mr Harpoth said he would be taking a very active role in running TEAM, but it was intended that the current management would continue in Ireland. "We do not want to make anyone redundant," he said.

He said he would have preferred if 100 per cent of the workforce had accepted the offer to transfer in the form of a £54.5 million offer from Aer Lingus to buy out their letters of guarantee but stressed that he fully understood and respected the decision of those who had decided against.

The deal will have to be approved by the Competition Authority and both parties will be referring it there next week. Mr Harpoth said he was confident it would be sanctioned by the authority.

The final acceptances from workers agreeing to the purchase of their letters of guarantee were counted in the Law Library in the presence of talks facilitator Mr Gerry Durcan, SC.

Mr Durcan asked Aer Lingus to give due consideration to any further letters which are received over the weekend or in the post. This was agreed by Aer Lingus.