Passenger numbers up at Aer Lingus and Ryanair

Passenger numbers at Aer Lingus for the first half of the year rose were up 1 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.

The airline said it carried 4.6 million passengers during the months January to June, as against 4.57 million last year.

Total traffic, including Aer Lingus Regional scheduled flights, rose by 3.4 per cent to 5.23 million passengers although overall numbers carried were affected by the one-day industrial stoppage in May and its knock-on effects on bookings

During the month of June it carried 995,000 passengers in total, up 4.9 per cent on an annual basis.

Long haul passenger numbers grew by 21.5 per cent to 141,000, while short haul passengers increased 2.6 per cent from 833,000 to 854,000.

Total traffic for the month, including Aer Lingus Regional scheduled flights was up 7.8 per cent to 1.12 million passengers, compared to 1.04 million in June 2013.

The airline said its load factor - the seats it fills in each flight- was 85.5 per cent in June, as against 86.2 per cent for the same month last year.

Revenue per passenger rose by 10.7 per cent on an annual basis and was up 6.1 per cent in the year-to-date.

Separately, Ryanair said passenger traffic in June rose by 5 per cent or 400,000 to 8.3 million.

The airline said its load factor increase 4 points from 84 per cent to 88 per cent.

Rolling annual traffic rose to a record 82.7 million, up 3 per cent.