Aer Lingus passenger figures down 2.5% in April

Aer Lingus passenger figures, including its regional operations, fell 2.5 per cent to 868,000 in April compared to the same period in 2012.

The decline has been attributed to the Easter Bank Holiday which fell in at the end of March this year, rather than in the first week of April in 2012.

Short haul passengers were down 4.2 per cent but long haul passenger numbers were up 6.3 per cent in the month as the load factor slipped by 3.8 percentage points to 68.9 per cent.

Aer Lingus Regional, operated by Aer Arann, continued to grow with passenger numbers up 5.1 per cent to 83,000in the month.

NCB Stockbrokers equity analyst Tom Holmes commented, “Overall, these traffic figures were in line with expectations. The slight decline in passenger numbers was unsurprising given the timing of Easter.

“In the coming months we will keep an eye on the performance of Aer Lingus’ long haul business, which has seen a step up in capacity this month.”