Aer Lingus Chief Executive Christoph Mueller is to leave the company in May of next year.

He has been CEO and an executive director at the company since 2009, and says now is the right time to hand over the reins.

The Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington has thanked him in a statement this morning, saying the company has become a strong consistently profitable airline under Mr Mueller's leadership.

Meanwhile, Christoph Mueller said, "I am conscious that there are significant challenges that we are continuing to address and I am happy to remain with Aer Lingus through May 2015 to apply an ongoing focus to that work."

The Aer Lingus board says it will start the recruitment process for Mr Mueller's replacement immediately.