Aer Lingus has 'no plans' to cancel September 11th flights

Aer Lingus has played down reports that holidaymakers are fearful of travelling on the first anniversary of the September 11th attacks in the United States, saying it has no plans to cancel any of its flights on that date.

"There is no indication from customers that there is any problem with travelling on September 11th," said the airline's corporate affairs director, Mr Dan Loughrey, yesterday.

"Bookings are a little bit lighter than on the same day last year but then, the 10th and 12th are heavily booked and we have no plans to cancel any flights on the 11th."

Aer Lingus, which operates about 10 transatlantic flights each day, last week issued its results for 2001, showing operating losses of €50.4 million and a drop in passenger numbers of 4.6 per cent on the previous year.

The terrorist attacks of September 11th were partly blamed for the downturn in business. Fears that the market for air travel would collapse completely, however, have not materialised and Mr Loughrey said "traffic volumes are very strong at the moment".

A further indication of market strength is to come today with the release of figures showing Ryanair's traffic increased by 41 per cent last month.

A spokeswoman for Ryanair was unable to comment on whether September 11th business was down. It is understood, however, the airline is not anticipating a slump in bookings on that date as it does not fly on transatlantic routes. In contrast, BA said at the weekend it had cancelled 26 of its 80 transatlantic flights on September 11th and Air France has cancelled two flights from Paris, one to New York and one to Washington. Both airlines cited lower then normal bookings as the reason for the cancellations.

Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) is to cancel two of its three flights to New York and other major carriers said that while they were not planning to cut flights, passenger reservations were down.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Lufthansa said the carrier had seen a "marked reduction" in reservations to and from the US on that date. Other carriers, including Iberia, Austrian Airlines and Virgin Atlantic, said bookings were on a par with last year.