Mueller appointed to run Irish carrier
Christoph Mueller, aviation director at German leisure group TUI Travel, was today (July 17) appointed as the new ceo of Aer Lingus.
He succeeds Dermot Mannion who quit in April after fighting off two hostile take over bids from rival Irish carrier Ryanair.
Mr Mueller, 47, will take up his new role on October 1 and will also join the Aer Lingus board.
He has extensive experience in the aviation industry having worked with Daimler Benz Aerospace, Lufthansa, the Sabena Group, DHL and Deutsche Post.
He was chief financial officer of DHL Worldwide from 2002 to 2004 and became a member of the Executive Committee of Deutsche Post in 2004.
He joined TUI in 2006 as executive in charge of its flight division and became executive director after TUI merged with the British leisure travel company First Choice Holidays.
In this role, he managed seven separate airlines, a fleet of 160 short-haul and long-haul aircraft and a team of 11,000 employees.
He joins an airline that reported a pre-tax loss of €105m in March and has since announced a 25% cut in capacity.
This included routes from Dublin to San Francisco and Washington which are due to cease on October 25 while flights between Shannon and Boston will be reduced from seven to four per week.
The airline has also been under heavy fire form Ryanair, the low cost carrier which holds a 29.82% stake in Aer Lingus and has twice tried to buy it.
Colm Barrington, Aer Lingus' chairman who has stood in as interim ceo since Mr Mannion left, said Mr Mueller had a "proven track record within the aviation industry."
He added: "Christoph has the experience and the skill-set to lead the Aer Lingus team through what is an unprecedented operating environment and to make the changes that are required at Aer Lingus."
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