Aer Lingus reports increase in passengers for August

For Aer Lingus, the month of August this year has been remarkable. Aer Lingus has been upbeat on its performance, and said that the total number of passengers carried for August 2013 showed a 0.9 percent increase to 1,126,000.

Aer Lingus, while providing the details, said that its long-haul flights reported an increase of 17.5 percent in the passenger numbers to 121,000. However, the passenger numbers on its short haul service slightly declined to 0.8 percent to 1,005,000. The airline’s load factor (seats filled per flight) also dropped by 0.7 points to 86.6 percent this August.

The airline attributed the decline in short haul passenger numbers to the heat wave during the summer. Aer Lingus had already estimated about the decline during its first half outlook statement earlier this year. The airline reported a decrease in short haul load factor by 2.5 points to 82.1 percent last month, while its capacity dropped by 1.9 percent.

Aer Lingus further stated that its flown passenger load factor decreased by 0.7 points to 86.6 percent based on August 2012. However, its long haul flown load factor reported an increase of 1.7 points to 94.9 percent, while its capacity increased 15.7 percent y-o-y.