Today's other stories in brief

Fewer flying with Aer Lingus

Aer Lingus's passenger traffic continued to decline in March with the airline recording a 7 per cent drop in numbers on its short-haul and transatlantic flights. Passenger numbers for the first quarter were down 7.3 per cent at 2.18 million.

Aer Lingus’s long-haul services remained under pressure and recorded a 20.9 per cent decline in passengers.

Capacity on transatlantic routes last month was down 19.5 per cent compared to March last year. The decline in short-haul services fell 5.1 per cent year-on-year to 748,000.

UK output falls for 12th month in row

British manufacturing output fell less than expected in February, but that still marked the 12th straight month of declines, the longest stretch of losses since the recession of the early 1980s. The Office for National Statistics said output fell 0.9 per cent on the month, less than the 1.5 per cent drop analysts forecast. - (Reuters)