IAG bid a shadow over Mueller succession

Another day, another runway. The sharp drop in Aer Lingus shares yesterday suggests investors reckon Willie Walsh’s overtures to buy out the entirety of the airline are going nowhere.

No matter when the Government issues its formal decision on the IAG bid, a positive response seems increasingly unlikely.

The politics of it all are deeply unappealing for Ministers – and the situation is no better for the Aer Lingus board as it seeks a successor for outgoing chief executive Christoph Mueller (right).

Mueller resigned in mid-July and he is still working out his rather long notice.

The two months since he was chosen as the next chief of Malaysia Airlines have been dominated by Walsh’s bid.

The Aer Lingus board is suffering now for taking its time with that succession. Amid doubt over the company’s fate, you’d have to think that any external candidates of calibre would wait until the situation is resolved.

Potential candidates

For many potential candidates, agreeing to become boss of an airline which might soon become a subsidiary of another, under a different board, would be a risk too far.

Any failure of the IAG bid would also colour the mandate of the incoming chief.

All of that might favour an internal Aer Lingus candidate in the end, but the questions would be raised in that event as to why the board didn’t move sooner to make the appointment.

Walsh’s first bid was made in mid- December, five months after Mueller submitted his resignation.