Aer Lingus traffic up 3.1 % in June

Aer Lingus carried more than 1 million passengers in June, 3.1 per cent more than in the same month last year.

The number of short-haul passengers, including those carried by its regional operations, increased to 928,000 (up 1.5 per cent year-on-year) and the airline’s long-haul numbers increased by more than 17 per cent to 116,000.

Regional traffic was flat year-on-year at 95,000. Flown passenger load factor rose 3.6 points year-on-year to 86.2 per cent with short-haul rising 3.5 points to 81.6 per cent. Capacity in short-haul fell 2.1 per cent.

To date in 2013, traffic across Aer Lingus has risen by 1.3 per cent to 4.57 million. Short-haul numbers have been largely flat year to date (up 0.1 per cent to 4.08million) but long-haul traffic has risen by 12.7 per cent to 488,000.

Figures released earlier this week by the Central Statistics Office show that the number of overseas trips to Ireland increased by about 150,000 in the five months to the end of May.

The number of visitors to Ireland from North America is up by more than an eight year to date, to some 369,100, a likely driver in the growth in long-haul business at Aer Lingus. Irish residents have taken fewer overseas trips so far this year.