Aer Lingus waits for take off

In any other country, the achievement of an operating margin of 11.8 per cent by an airline might have merited special mention and perhaps even a little commendation.

So the omission by Aer Lingus executive chairman John Sharman - at last week's press conference for the company's 2004 results - to acknowledge the not insubstantial contribution of Willie Walsh and fellow former executives Brian Dunne and Seamus Kearney to the airline's healthy profit ...