Aer Lingus chief cashes in €895,000 IAG shares

Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton cashed in close to €900,000 worth of shares in the Irish carrier’s owner, International Airlines Group (IAG), at the end of May, figures show.The airline is seeking to cut up to 500 jobs from a workforce of 6,500 to aid it in tackling rising costs and increased competition in key parts of its business.Company filings show Embleton cashed in £775,005 sterling (€895,000) worth of IAG shares on May 28th last, within weeks of the group published financial results.Embleton receives share options in IAG as part of her pay, a common practice for rewarding executives in stock market-quoted companies.READ MOREStrict rules govern when executives with such deals can cash in share options or transact in company stock as they have access to information on the business that can affect its shares’ value.Several other IAG executives also cashed in options around the same time as Embleton, the filings show.[ Aer Lingus faces clash with unions as 500 jobs to goOpens in new window ]IAG published financial results almost three weeks earlier showing that Aer Lingus had lost €103 million in the three months to the end of March 31st.Share options cashed in the airline’s chief would have been awarded to her before that three-month period. Aer Lingus earned €282 million profit last year.Embleton confirmed in May that the airline was reviewing costs. That exercise preceded this week’s announcement that could cut up to 70 pilots, 140 cabin crew and 290 head office staff.Aer Lingus is preparing to enter talks with unions including Fórsa and the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association on the proposals.