AER LINGUS chief executive Christoph Mueller and chairman Colm Barrington have increased their shareholdings in the airline.
Mr Mueller spent €81,825 last Thursday buying 75,000 shares in the airline.
This equated to €1.091 a share and took his holding in the company to 125,000 shares.
Mr Mueller also holds options over 2.45 million shares awarded by the company.
Mr Barrington, meanwhile, acquired 30,000 shares at €1.099 apiece last Friday. This transaction cost him €32,970. He now owns 150,000 shares in Aer Lingus.
Aer Lingus’s share price has had a strong run over the past 12 months, almost doubling in value as the company has been restored to profitability and has agreed a major cost-cutting deal with its employees. It recorded an operating profit of €79.2 million in the third quarter – July to September.
This was ahead of market expectations and reflected an improved yield performance during what is one of its busiest periods of the year.
But the stock closed down 2.1 per cent in Dublin yesterday at 1.057 cent.
This means both Mr Mueller and Mr Barrington were under water on their latest investments in Aer Lingus.
A number of Aer Lingus directors have bought shares in the company in the past two months, including Nicola Shaw and Leslie Buckley.
In addition, newly appointed finance director Andrew McFarlane was given a conditional award last month of 407,970 shares.
This was part of a long-term incentive programme for executives at the airline.
