AER LINGUS has asked its senior managers to trim €75m from their annual budgets as it seeks to cut its costs as part of its defence against a takeover by low-cost rival Ryanair. The cost-saving exercise could involve voluntary redundancies.

One insider said that while cuts of €75m were being sought, the airline would probably be happy to reduce its overheads by about half that level.

“There’s a cat-and-mouse game going on with the airline asking for one figure and managers offering a lower one,” said the insider. “It’s part of the politics of the airline. They’ll eventually meet somewhere in the middle.”

It is understood managers were told to identify cost savings and increase efficiencies within their areas of responsibility by whatever means possible. This could include reducing the airline’s headcount.

Aer Lingus’s operations at home and at foreign airports is being placed under the microscope and it is seeking ways of using IT to improve efficiencies.

Aer Lingus currently employs about 3,500 staff. The process is being overseen by Greg O’Sullivan, Aer Lingus’s head of finance.

The airline has already identified ways of trimming €2m from its annual fuel bill next year. This would equate to just under 1% of its overall fuel costs.

The measures include carrying lighter fuel loads and having planes towed in and out of their slots to minimise the amount of time engines are switched on before and after takeoff.

Aer Lingus confirmed it was seeking to achieve cost savings across the board but said no figure had been placed on the exercise. It said the process would conclude in a “matter of weeks”.

It is understood this review of costs was brought forward by Aer Lingus’s chief executive Dermot Mannion following Ryanair’s bold €1.48 billion takeover bid for the former state airline in October.

Mannion last month told staff representatives that major job cuts and cost reductions would be implemented across the airline, regardless of whether or not Ryanair’s bid was successful.

He said existing agreements would have to be re-examined, including areas such as maintenance, catering and Aer Lingus’s US operations.