Aer Lingus names veteran as next chief executive

AER LINGUS has announced that its new chief executive will be a senior manager with 26 years’ service with the airline.

Stephen Kavanagh has been with Aer Lingus for 26 years. Picture: PA

Stephen Kavanagh will take up the role on 1 March after Christoph Mueller leaves. His promotion was announced yesterday as International Airlines Group presses on with drumming support up for its £1 billion bid for Aer Lingus.

Kavanagh is a graduate of University College Dublin and joined Aer Lingus in 1988. He had a number of roles in operations and commercial departments before being appointed an executive in 2006 and working on Aer Lingus’s stock market flotation. He has been chief commercial officer from 2009.

Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington said: “Stephen has worked in Aer Lingus for over 26 years in a range of increasingly challenging roles and he has a commanding knowledge of both the company and the industry.

“I am particularly pleased that it has been possible and appropriate for an internal Aer Lingus executive to succeed to the position of chief executive.

“Stephen has been a key member of the executive team that, over the last five years, has transformed Aer Lingus into a strong, profitable airline with a resilient business model and an improved cost base.”

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