Mr Barrington said the airline was growing a new base at London Gatwick Airport serving eight destinations due to open next April. He said the airline, despite the tough conditions, expected to make a profit this year. Mr Barrington added: "We expect that significantly reduced fuel prices and a number of management cost reduction initiatives will enable Aer Lingus to continue to enhance profitability in 2009 and beyond." He said the carrier had a "a strong balance sheet - one of the strongest in the industry - with total cash reserves of €1.3bn and net cash of €803m. "Ryanair seeks to pay other shareholders €525m to acquire control of Aer Lingus in order to gain access to this €1.3bn cash balance. "For this reason alone, the offer is worthy of rejection. That is before considering the market value of our owned fleet of €601m." In his letter Mr Barrington then hit out at Ryanair and its operating methods. "Ryanair has no experience of managing a long haul business.