Aer Lingus unions vote in favour of pension solution

Shares in Aer Lingus soared by about 5 per cent in trading today, as unions voted in favour of the airline's solution to its pension funding deficit and the airline reported operating profit of €112.9 million for the third quarter, up 19 per cent compared to the € 94.9 million recorded for the same period a year earlier.

Total revenue for the quarter was up 13.9 per cent year-on-year to €531.1 million, which the company attributed to a strong short haul performance and the continued success of Aer Lingus transatlantic capacity expansion.

Short haul revenue was up 5.5 per cent to €274.3 million versus €259.9 million a year earlier. Short haul passenger volumes rose 2.2 per cent and average revenue per seat increased 5.2 per cent.

Long haul revenues rose 34 per cent to €175.9 million from €131.3 million a year earlier.

For the three months ended September 30th, Aer Lingus carried a total of over 3 million passengers, up 4.8 per cent compared to 2013. Long-haul routes recorded a 23.8 per cent increase to 427,000 passengers while short haul passenger numbers were up 2.2 per cent to 2.625 million.

"Aer Lingus' short haul traded strongly in a tough environment, with revenue growth increasing by 5.5 per centin the quarter. This is a reflection of the inherent strength of our business model and the success of management actions taken to address the effects of industrial disruption in the second quarter of 2014." said chief executive Christoph Mueller.

“In long haul, we carried nearly a quarter more passengers compared to last year while increasing our load factor and revenue per seat. We target further profitable growth of our long haul business into 2015. Our new Dublin to Washington service will be launched in May 2015 and services on existing transatlantic routes will be increased. This will provide even more connectivity for our passengers and strengthen Aer Lingus’ and Dublin’s position in traffic between Europe and North America,” he added.

Aer Lingus said the total number of passengers it carried during the month of October, including Aer Lingus Regional, was 979,000, up 2.3 per cent on the same month a year earlier.

Long haul traffic increased by 29 per cent to 129,000 passengers, while short haul traffic declined from 754,000 in October 2013 to 738,000 passengers

The overall passenger load factor for the month was up 2.4 percentage points to 79.6 per cent.

Total Aer Lingus passengers carried for the first ten months of the year were up 4.2 per cent to 9.670 million versus the same period last year.

Aer Lingus is forecasting full-year 2014 operating profit, before exceptional items, to be ahead of the 2013 operating result of €61.1 million.