ON WEDNESDAY, Aer Lingus executives were in Belfast to celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of its base at the city's international airport. The airline was keen to put the record straight on its performance from Belfast, having been the butt of strong criticism the previous week from Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary.
Speaking to our Northern News Editor Dan Keenan on Wednesday, Aer Lingus's commercial director, Enda Corneille, said the Belfast base would start generating profits shortly.
"Some 750,000 seats sold [in the first year of operation] against a target of 500,000 - by any measure that's a success," Corneille said.
He added that profitability would soon be reached after an initial £150 million (€169 million) investment.
"Belfast is hitting its targets, we said we would be making money by the end of the year. That remains on track. Advance bookings for the first couple of months for 2009 are strong, yields are weak. But we are in a very good position in terms of delivering what we said we would deliver."
O'Leary last week produced figures that showed Aer Lingus's average load factor from Belfast across 10 routes was just 57 per cent in the period from December 2007 to October this year.
He highlighted how it achieved load factors of just 40 per cent and 50 per cent for Amsterdam and Paris respectively, two of the most popular destinations in Europe.
Corneille was sanguine about the performance to date. "We are gearing up to consolidate our position [in Belfast], taking market share off BMI," he said.
Corneille did concede that more bargain seats than expected had been put on offer and a greater advertising spend had been required. "But we got the volume and that's the main thing. The yields are down, but the economy in Northern Ireland is moving at a different pace."
According to Corneille, Belfast is a model that Aer Lingus wants to take to other cities outside the Republic.
"We are now looking for base number two and three [outside the Republic] and they will all be set up on the [Belfast] template," he added.
Michael O'Leary might have a thing or two to say about that.
