British Airways parent IAG set to buy stake in Ireland’s Aer Lingus

Ryanair’s own attempts to acquire Aer Lingus were blocked by European regulators and it has since been fighting a United Kingdom competition ruling under which it would have to sell its stake down to below 5%.

O’Leary called the IAG offer “a reasonable one in the current market” that would allow Ryanair, Europe’s fastest-growing airline, to record “a small profit”.

Ryanairs board has voted unanimously in favour of accepting IAGs offer for its 29.8pc share of Aer Lingus.

“The guarantees that are in place mean that Aer Lingus’ existing slots will be maintained and schedules between Ireland and Heathrow will be retained for a set period of time”, said Mr Hayes.

The Aer Lingus board were in favour of the takeover by IAG, which is run by Willie Walsh.

IAG had previously offered only prorate deals but was forced to bump up concessions after the European Commission said these were not sufficient.

The Irish flag airline is a lucrative prize for IAG.

IAG wants to use Dublin as a transatlantic hub, and has promised to grow services and jobs at the Irish airline.

“More developments targeting North America are a key strategic objective of IAG and this is where Aer Lingus’s acquisition is important”, said Euromonitor airline analyst Nadejda Popova.

IAG started its takeover bid previous year and raised it three times, from €2.30 to €2.55 a share, before it won Ireland’s backing.

IAG has targetted Irish national carrier Aer Lingus for months.

It’s thought that IAG want Aer Lingus in order to offer more flights from Dublin to America.

The formal acceptance clears the path for the €1.3bn (£940 million) bid by BA and Iberia owner IAG for Aer Lingus to proceed.

Since the result of the vote was announced this morning Aer Lingus’ value has risen 1.75%.