Passenger numbers down at Aer Lingus last month

Passenger numbers at Aer Lingus fell last month on the back of a decline in short-haul traffic, the airline said on Thursday.

Total passenger traffic - which includes both Aer Lingus and its regional subsidiary - was down 2 per cent with the airline carrying 627,000 passengers in February compared to 640,000 for the same month a year earlier.

Aer Lingus mainline traffic fell 0.9 per cent as the airline carried a total of 553,000 passengers last month, down from 558,000 passengers for February 2014.

While long haul traffic rose 21.7 per cent to 56,000 as against 46,000, short haul traffic fell 2.9 per cent to 497,000, compared to 512,000 for February 2014.

Aer Lingus Regional traffic was down 9.8 per cent in the month.

Load factor - a measure of how many seats are filled on each flight - was up 1.9 percentage points to 69.2 per cent. Short haul load factor rose 1.6 percentage points to 70.3 per cent, while long haul load factor was up 3 percentage points to 67.7 per cent.

In the year-to-date, total Aer Lingus traffic is down 3.9 per cent.

Separately, Aer Lingus Regional, which is operated by Stobart Air, has added a new route to its network. The airline is to offer flights between Dublin and Robin Hood airport in Doncaster from the end of May.

The new route will operate five times weekly and fares are from €24.99 each way including taxes and charges.

The latest addition means that Aer Lingus Regional now serves 14 destinations across the UK from Ireland.