Planet Business

The business week in brief

THE NUMBERS

€167,000

- Cost of a "his & hers" light sports aircraft with luxury fittings and flight training for two, as advertised in a Christmas catalogue for US retailer Neiman Marcus.

€1 billion

- Third-quarter loss at aircraft maker Boeing, after it had to modify the technical specifications on its 787 Dreamliner and the new version of its 747 jumbo jet.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"That's a report, if you like, that was prepared for peacetime conditions - we are in wartime conditions; we have to raise whatever money we can raise now"

-  Um, yes, members of the Commission on Taxation, thanks for all your hard work, says Brian Lenihan

QUOTE OF THE WEEK II

"Its future as an independent carrier is not that secure and maybe Aer Lingus does need to look at a relationship with some other carrier or a number of other carriers"

- - Times have changed since I was in charge, says Willie Walsh

GOOD WEEK

Windows 7

Shaking off all memories of appalling Vistas, Microsoft bounced back this week by unleashing the touchscreen-friendly, streamlined Windows 7 operating system, which has reportedly become the highest grossing pre-order of all time on Amazon - more popular even than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unwilling to take defeat lying down, author JK Rowling is now planning a surprise addition to the Hogwarts canon: Harry Potter and the iPod of Doom. Or that could be just my little fantasy.

Seán Whelan

RTÉ News Europe editor is to be economics correspondent just in time to report on the Minister for Finance's budget of cuts. Whelan has reported on wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, which should be ideal training for his new position, given Lenihan's assertion that "we are in wartime conditions".

BAD WEEK

Shannon Airport

How's this for an ultimatum? Ryanair has decided to push the Government's buttons on the €10 departure tax by threatening to reduce its Shannon-based aircraft to just one plane if it doesn't remove what Ryanair deputy chief executive Michael Cawley describes as "an idiotic, stupid scheme".