Passenger traffic at Aer Lingus fell 6.3 per cent in March compared with a year earlier, according to new data released yesterday, writes Ciara O'Brien

The airline said it carried 782,000 passengers last month, with both short and long-haul passengers falling over the month. The airline had 713,000 short-haul travellers, a 4.7 per cent decline on March 2009, while long-haul passengers slipped 20.7 per cent to 69,000.

The airline decreased capacity by 11.3 per cent compared to the same month last year, mainly on long-haul routes, which lost 29 per cent as Aer Lingus cut a number of routes. Short-haul routes increased capacity by 1.2 per cent.

Aer Lingus scaled back operations at Gatwick to three aircraft. The move meant a number of routes to locations including Tenerife and Warsaw were dropped from the end of March.

The airline has also reduced capacity on other transatlantic routes.