300 Aer Lingus Pilots lose up to 50k each

[odie1kanobe]

Pilots' group that bought shares in Aer Lingus 'could be liquidated' - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

Letters chart the unravelling of Tailwind - Irish, Business - Independent.ie

Looks like 500 Aer Lingus pilots may be regreting the great idea to invest 30,000 each in Tailwind to buy shares in Aer Lingus. They provided lots of personal security for this as their 30k is gone and they are look like they will be liable for up to another 20k each because Bank of Scotland will want their capital,interest and charges all repaid.

Seems also like there is dissension in the ranks with questions over where some of the money is being spent with members resigning.

"Title should have read 500 not 300"

[MVOR]

Delighted for them, greed got the better of them. They could all have walked away with a nice windfall if they had taken up the Ryanair offer which was clearly more than generous. It was obvious that Aer Lingus could never survive in the real world once it lost all the tax payer money. There is no proper management and the staff don't know what a proper days work is. It's another semi state shambles. The Government really messed up on this one. They could've taken the Ryanair offer and added millions to the public purse but instead they said no and what will happen now is the company will go bust and the tax payer again loses millions.

[Factorem]

And it's not just the pilots. It's the pensions trustees too who should be hauled over the coals for allowing all the eggs to be put in one basket.

[MVOR]

They never learned from Enron. Enron had most of their employees pensions all invested in the company and they lost everything.

[Middleaged]

Remember 30k is the equivalent of less that one third a brand new first year pilot earns. It's pittance.

A new pilot earns €90k a year, no wonder Aer Lingus is fck'd.

[MVOR]

A new pilot earns €90k a year, no wonder Aer Lingus is fck'd.

Overpaid and underworked. Sounds about right. They were run by the Government after all.

[odie1kanobe]

And it's not just the pilots. It's the pensions trustees too who should be hauled over the coals for allowing all the eggs to be put in one basket.

Pension trustees were warned of this and thing personal liability issues could come to the fore where they are liable.

[Mugabe]

Good enough for them. It all falls in line with my opinion that the reason the country went mad for 12 or so years was due to the undeniable fact that the majority in Ireland didn't want to make a profit, they wanted to make a killing.

And the country is reeling because the aftermath of this greed is evident in every fathom of Irish life.

Again, good enough for them.

[Factorem]

Pension trustees were warned of this and thing personal liability issues could come to the fore where they are liable.

It also raises questions about the government relevant authorities responsible for regulating pension schemes.

Were they happy with the way Aer Lingus pensions were being managed?

[odie1kanobe]

I think it would be prudent to know the facts before posting. The article is severely flawed, and in reality further enhances my personal opinion of the sloppy journalism the Indo has been akin to for some time. Laura Noonan has been fishing around this recently and her research is sketchy to say the least. She is trying to turn a seed into an apple and is getting carried away with herself. To put it in perspective Tailwind relates to only 1.8% of the company. The pension fund holding is entirely different. This small 1.8% is not the reason that Ryanair didn't get the company. As I understand it the share has been kept by the company Tailwind as they have now decided to get rid of their outstanding loan with the lending institution by paying the loan off directly by the members themselves. It's the lending instiution that will lose out, as the decision has been taken to pay this back early, thus losing out on the interest on the remainder of the loan term.

Remember 30k is the equivalent of less that one third a brand new pilot's salary in the comany. It's pittance. And you also have to remember you only lose the money if you sell the shares, something Tailwind have no intention of doing at all.

I wouldn't be getting too excited about this story.

Nice Spin BUT

10 Million from BOS and 15 Million from Pilots is 25 million used to buy shares.

Total Aer Lingus shares in issue is 530 million. Tailwind held 2% and paid 25 million

Total Shareholding now worth 6.1 million but in actual fact less as they have been forced to sell shares.

BOS have recalled loan as there is no security other than guarantees and shares only worth 60% of loan.

Lets be clear the Pilots initial investment is GONE, they have had to fund Interest on the loan prob about 50k a month even if its rolled into the loan.

BOS now demanding money back and they will get it, selling all the shares gets 6 million plus they will seek another 5 million maybe more in interest and fees.

Tailwind is a dead duck and option for pilots is pay off BOS or 20k each or liquidate Tailwind and pay probably 10k each.

There are pretty much no other options.