Aer Lingus marketing director Mr Mark Mortell is leaving the State airline after 2½ years in the post. Staff were informed of his resignation last Friday.

Mr Mortell declined to discuss his plans yesterday but there is speculation that he may take a part-time post in Fine Gael, which is attempting to engineer a recovery after its disastrous performance in the general election.

He is believed to be reluctant to take a full-time post in the organisation.

A former chairman of Bord Fáilte, Mr Mortell joined Aer Lingus at the start of 2000 as commercial director. He had been managing director of the advertising and brand development company Dimension, which is part of the McConnells group.

His departure is something of a setback for the State carrier, whose recovery plan took months to bed down after it went to the brink of bankruptcy, following the September 11th attacks on the US.

Mr Mortell said: "The challenge for Aer Lingus going forward is getting the cost base even more under control than in the last six months. The business is going to go through continuous change and very tight management of the cost base."

While he was 100 per cent supportive of the recovery plan, he said he felt the time was right to move on.

In a circular to staff, the Aer Lingus chief executive, Mr Willie Walsh, said Mr Mortell would leave the company early next month.

He added: "I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Mark over the last few years and would like to thank him for his significant contribution as a member of the executive management team during what has been a difficult period for the company."

Mr Mortell resigned as chairman of Bord Fáilte before joining Aer Lingus and became marketing director soon after his arrival.