Aer Lingus passenger numbers fall

Passenger numbers at Aer Lingus fell by 3.4 per cent last month compared to the same period last year.

Figures released this morning show that the total number of passengers carried by the airline in September was 927,000.

While the number of long haul passengers carried remained steady at 86,000 - the same as in September 2009 - short haul passengers numbers were down 3.8 per cent on the year, at 841,000.

Aer Lingus' load factor last month improved by 3.5 points on September 2009 to 81 per cent the airline said this morning.

Long haul load factor was 81.8 per cent, an increase of 10.2 points on September 2009, with capacity decreasing by 15.5 per cent. Short haul load factor was 80.6 per cent, a decrease of 0.2 points on September 2009, with capacity decreasing by 3.3 per cent.

Total capacity last month was 7.6 per cent lower than last year.

Aer Lingus said that this was because the airline significantly reduced its long haul capacity at the end of 2009 and made a smaller reduction to short haul capacity earlier this year.