Aer Lingus passenger numbers rise 8.2%

AER LINGUS carried 1.117 million passengers in July, an increase of 8.2 per cent on the same month in 2008, according to figures published yesterday.

The airline’s load factor – the average number of seats filled on each aircraft – declined by one point during the month to 82.3 per cent.

Its short-haul traffic increased by 11.2 per cent to 1.004 million last month. This was helped by traffic generated at its new base at London’s Gatwick Airport.

On long-haul services to the US, passenger numbers declined by 12.4 per cent to 113,000. The airline has reduced the capacity on long-haul routes by 12.7 per cent in recent times. Over the past year it has axed its route to Los Angeles and reduced services from Ireland to other cities.

Aer Lingus’s short-haul load factor rose by 0.4 per cent to 85.6 per cent. On long-haul flights, the load factor was 77 per cent, a decline of four percentage points on July 2008.

Merrion Capital aviation analyst John Mattimoe said the figures were broadly in line with his expectations. “In terms of load factor, I was looking for them to be flat or slightly lower for the summer. The figures are broadly consistent with the trend of recent months whereby short haul has been relatively firmer for them.”

Aer Lingus is due to report its interim results on August 27th, with analysts expecting heavy losses to be announced. In a note to clients yesterday, Bloxham analyst Joe Gill said: “Given comments from competitors and Aer Lingus itself, we assume yields on both short and long haul remain under pressure, something that will be illuminated with interim results later this month.”

Aer Lingus’s shares closed up 1 per cent at 48.5 cent in Dublin yesterday.