Irish state airline Aer Lingus said on Thursday it would not delay its flotation later this year, despite a setback to its long-haul expansion plans and increased turbulence in the industry.

Chief Executive Dermot Mannion made light of news on Wednesday that wrangling between European Union and US negotiators was likely to disrupt the timing of an "Open Skies" aviation services deal expected to conclude in October.

Agreement on "Open Skies", which would mean Aer Lingus could fly into an unlimited number of American cities instead of the five it currently services, was seen as a boost for the partial flotation of the flag carrier in September.

"We've always had a Plan B in mind," Mannion told Irish state broadcaster RTE.

"It's true that we had anticipated Open Skies some time in 2007, but Plan B has always been to grow capacity on our existing routes to North America and look at other opportunities eastbound from Ireland, and we'll obviously continue to do that."

Mannion said the airline, which sees an expansion of its long-haul operations as crucial to its future amid severe competition on short-haul routes, was "uniquely placed" in Europe to take advantage of Open Skies when it happened.

He said there were no plans to postpone the initial public offering, despite intensifying pressure on the industry from soaring fuel prices and recent security chaos.

"The industry does have a history of bouncing back very quickly indeed from this type of security incident," he said.

Mannion declined to indicate a likely range of offer price for the flotation.

"No, it's too early to say. What we can say is that the prospectus will be published in early September and then the process will take its own course from there."

Aer Lingus -- with an estimated value of around EUR1 billion euros (USD$1.3 billion) -- has realigned itself as a low-fares player after a brush with bankruptcy in 2001. It plans to invest EUR2 billion euros in its fleet over the next six years.