O'Leary rules out third Aer Lingus bid

The Ryanair AGM was held on Thursday last, September 24. At the meeting the airline's chief executive Michael O'Leary ruled out a possible third bid for Aer Lingus. He did moderate his comments however by stating that Aer Lingus would eventually run out of cash forcing it to turn to it's shareholders to raise equity. "We would be happy to invest but only if it becomes a low cost carrier", said O'Leary.
The airline has cut it's full year passenger forecast from 67m to 66m, largely accounted for by capacity cuts at it's Stansted and Dublin bases. In spite of this drop and a 20% drop in average air fare the airline expects profit to double year on year from last year's €105m to somewhere between €200m and €300m for fiscal 2009. In a break with tradition the airline may dip into it's €2.5bn cash pile to pay a one off cash dividend or a share buy back scheme. The bulk of the company's cash will be retained however as the 'next big order' has yet to be finalized with either Airbus or Boeing.
At the meeting Michael O'Leary indicated that Ryanair's long haul plans are still some way off - long haul aircraft positions are still firm and haven't suffered the same damage that short haul orders have endured during the current recession.