Aer Lingus passenger traffic up 5.8 percent in January 2012

Aer Lingus recently announced its January 2012 operational results on a rather optimistic note. The airline disclosed that its passenger traffic has recorded a 5.8 percent increase in January this year.

Aer Lingus flights carried 563,000 passengers this January as compared to 532,000 passengers during the same month in 2011.

However, the airline is still lagging far behind January 2010 results when it carried 665,000 passengers then.

The airline has attributed the sharp decline in traffic in January 2011 because of unprecedented flight cancellations because of bad weather and a cabin crew dispute.

Regarding the passenger load factor, the airline said that it increased by 0.1 points to 62.3 percent in January 2012.

The airline also reported growth in both short-haul and long-haul flights. Aer Lingus reported increase by 2 points to 62.5 percent on 4.6 percent higher capacity. However, long-haul flights dipped 3.9 percent to 61.8 percent even as capacity increased by 8 percent.