Coalition caught between a rock and a hard place

Michael O’Leary was one thing. The government could easily swat away Ryanair’s pugnacious attempts to acquire Aer Lingus, citing competition grievances and anti-trust concerns.

Willie Walsh, however, is a different proposition. His IAG group has carefully crafted a bid for the Irish carrier that it believes will both appease regulators and tickle institutional shareholders. Most aviation analysts I have spoken to in recent days believe that the IAG bid has both financial and ...