Aer Lingus long-haul numbers fall 26%

LONG-haul passenger numbers at Aer Lingus continued to plunge last month, while British Airways was preparing to cut thousands of jobs.

The number of passengers flown by Aer Lingus fell 0.2% to 902,000 in October, compared with a year earlier.

Long-haul passenger numbers, however, fell by 26% to 81,000, while short-haul trips rose 3.3% to 821,000.

The load factor, which measures the number of seats filled, rose 1.3 percentage points to 74.6% after Aer Lingus cut routes.

Aer Lingus plans to reduce its long -haul winter seat capacity by a quarter to help cut costs and survive the recession. For the first 10 months of 2009, total passenger numbers are running 2.4% ahead at just under 9.2 million, while the load factor is up 1.4 points to 76.4%.

Bloxham analyst Joe Gill said: “A sharp reduction in long-haul capacity and tapered short-haul is helping Aer Lingus better manage loads. However, the ongoing economic crisis in Ireland and largely unchanged cost structures leave the business vulnerable to a much lower revenue stream.

“These numbers underline the need for progress in union/management talks that have been under way for over four weeks.”

British Airways, meanwhile, said declines in passenger traffic and ticket prices may have turned a corner.

It plans to cut a further 1,200 jobs after reporting a first-half loss for the first time. The job loss announcement means the airline will have shed a total of 4,900 positions by March next year.

The company suffered a loss before tax of £292m (€326m) for the six months to the end of September, compared with profits of £52m a year earlier.

Astaire Securities analyst Douglas McNeill said: “The tone is less pessimistic than last time they reported. It may be ugly in headline terms, but the comments are consistent with the notion that this is the bottom of the cycle.”

The company’s chief executive Willie Walsh will slash capacity by 6% this winter to ensure planes fly fuller.

Ryanair claimed yesterday that it carried four times the British and European short-haul traffic of British Airways last month.

On a more positive note Aer Arann said it saw a 320% spike in flight bookings this week when it offered 50% off all flights — the highest sales achieved by the airline in one day this year.