Aer Lingus Traffic, Loads Drop In December

January 8, 2009

Irish airline Aer Lingus carried 703,000 passengers last month, 4.6 percent fewer than a year earlier, as the percentage of seats occupied on individual flights also fell, the carrier said on Thursday.

Ireland's former state airline said its load factor was 69.4 percent in December compared with 70.8 percent a year ago.

Rival carrier Ryanair, which has launched a EUR750 million euro (USD$1.02 billion) hostile bid for Aer Lingus, reported on Tuesday an 11 percent rise in its December passenger numbers, with its load factor unchanged from a year ago.

Aer Lingus said passenger traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), fell 6 percent last month from the same period of 2007, with drops on both short and long-haul routes.

The carrier's full-year passenger tally rose 6.5 percent to 10.4 million.

Ryanair, which is Europe's largest low-cost airline, carried almost 58 million passengers last year and has plans to grow to over 65 million in 2009.

© Ascent Pacific 2009