16% fall in Aer Lingus customers

AER LINGUS saw passenger numbers fall almost 16% in the last year.

The number of people carried by the airline last month fell from 776,000 in November last year to 653,000.

Short-haul traffic was down 17.5% to 581,000 last month while long haul was unchanged at 72,000.

Aer Lingus’s load factor, which is a measure of seats filled, increased by 1.3 points to 72.3% last month. Its long-haul load factor was up 0.8 points to 71.9%, while short-haul load factor was up 1.6 points to 72.6%.

Goodbody analyst Eamonn Hughes said he was somewhat surprised by the extent of the traffic decline in short haul in November.

“However, ongoing paring back of the London Gatwick base and the slightly earlier October bank holiday weekend which ensured no carryover to November are probably the culprits,” he said.

Aer Lingus significantly reduced its long-haul capacity at the end of last year and made a smaller reduction to short-haul capacity earlier this year.

The airline said these changes were made to achieve a better match between capacity and market demand in the core market of Ireland, and to remove loss-making routes.

Bloxham analyst Joe Gill said: “The carrier’s restructuring of long haul is now complete, with November capacity down 13.6% implying stronger load factors. Short haul is impacted by the development of Aer Arann’s feeder service since last spring.”

NCB Stockbrokers said that disciplined capacity reductions by Ireland’s two largest airlines should have a positive impact on earnings despite economic weakness.