The board of Aer Lingus is expected to confirm the appointment of Mr Willie Walsh as chief executive. Mr Walsh is currently chief operations officer at Aer Lingus.

Mr Walsh faces a difficult task selling the airline's restructuring plan to the unions. If the plan to arrange a Government-guaranteed loan does not get the go-ahead, it is unlikely the company will have the money for voluntary redundancies.

However, Mr Walsh has had experience dealing with industrial relations matters in the past, having helped broker the deal with Aer Lingus cabin crew earlier this year. He also has considerable experience in the airline industry, having worked as a pilot for more than 20 years.

He steadily rose through the ranks as a pilot and also in management at Aer Lingus, before becoming chief executive of Futura Air, the charter-only airline 85 per cent owned by Aer Lingus. Aer Lingus bought into the company in 1989.

Throughout his time at Futura, the airline was said to be profitable, though details were not given in the annual reports of Aer Lingus.

Mr Walsh served as chief executive of Futura Air for three years until 1998. He was then appointed chief operations officer of Aer Lingus.

It is understood that Mr Walsh did not apply for the position of chief executive when it became available after Mr Michael Foley was sacked this summer.

However, he was approached last month after the former Glanbia group managing director Mr Ned Sullivan turned down the post.