Coyle to leave airline after 16 months

AER LINGUS has parted company with its chief financial officer and head of short-haul operations Seán Coyle, who was headhunted from Ryanair just 16 months ago.

It is understood Mr Coyle had disagreed with Aer Lingus’s new chief executive Christoph Mueller on the future strategic direction of the airline.

Aer Lingus said Mr Coyle would leave by “mutual agreement” at the end of December to “pursue other interests”.

Mr Coyle has also resigned from the board of Aer Lingus.

Aer Lingus said it had begun a search to appoint a new CFO “in due course”.

In a statement Mr Coyle said: “I would like to thank the board and my colleagues for their assistance and support during my time with the company and I would like to wish Aer Lingus every success in the future.”

The new CFO will be the fourth person to fill this role since 2005, following in the footsteps of Brian Dunne, Greg O’Sullivan and Mr Coyle.

It is understood that Mr Mueller, who took the reins in September, wants to reshape the Aer Lingus business model to include more alliances and joint ventures with other carriers.

He is believed to have given the green light to plans for a transatlantic alliance with United Airlines to fly from Washington DC to Madrid.

There has also been speculation that Aer Lingus might rejoin the OneWorld airline alliance.

Mr Coyle is believed to have wanted to continue the process of making Aer Lingus a low-cost, point-to-point, short-haul carrier, using a model similar to that of Ryanair. Mr Coyle, who is 36, was headhunted in August 2008 by then Aer Lingus chief Dermot Mannion, who himself left the airline earlier this year.

He was the first Ryanair executive to defect to the former State-owned airline.

Mr Coyle, a qualified chartered accountant, was director of scheduled revenue at Ryanair. He had joined Ryanair in 1998, serving initially as a personal assistant to CEO Michael O’Leary.

Mr Coyle had been touted by many analysts as a potential future CEO of Aer Lingus.

In a note to clients yesterday, Bloxham aviation analyst said: “To say this is a surprising development would be something of an understatement. There is no indication that he is joining another company at present.”