Aer Lingus passenger numbers up

The number of passengers flying with Aer Lingus rose by 3 per cent in July compared to the same month a year earlier.

A total of 1,105,000 passengers flew with the airline in July, according to new figures released today.

The number of short-haul passengers rose by 1.1 per cent to 931,000 while long-haul passengers fell by 3 per cent to 96,000.

Passenger numbers flying via regional airports rose by 47.2 per cent compared to July 2010, following the company's joint venture with Aer Arann. Overall, 78,000 passengers flew on Aer Lingus regional flights last month compared to 53,000 for the same month a year earlier.

The load factor - which represents the number of passengers as a percentage of total seats available - fell by 1.1 points to 84.7 per cent last month. Short-haul booked load facot was 83.7 per cent, a decrease of 0.3 points on July 2010, with capacity increasing by 2.6 per cent.

Long-haul load factor was 86.8 per cent, a decline of 3 points, with capacity decreasing by 0.5 per cent.