David Bonderman's appearance at GPA could have been expected given his long association with the company, and indeed with Ryanair.

The GPA link is said to have been established long before his association with the low-fare airline with both parties getting acquainted through the collapse of the America West airline in 1993. GPA was its largest creditor and after weighing up the various rescue proposals put forward at the time, it decided to back Mr Bonderman's package. The deal struck last week seems likely to give Mr Bonderman's investment vehicle, Texas Pacific, 47.7 per cent of the recovering GPA. While it is subject to shareholder approval, the deal is the best that the longsuffering shareholders have seen for some time. Many of the large fund managers have long since given up any hope of recovering their investment and are now expected to take Mr Bonderman's offer of $1.56 (£1.02) a share as part of a restructuring package.

The major beneficiaries will be Air Canada (12 per cent), Aer Lingus (10 per cent), Prudential Insurance of America (7.7 per cent) and GPA founder, Dr Tony Ryan (7 per cent). If approved, Mr Bonderman and a senior executive from America West will join the board.

Announcing the proposed agreement, GPA also tentatively spoke of a flotation sometime in the future. The company, which will change its name to AerFi, will be hoping for a more successful take-off on its return journey to the stock market.