Pilot strike threat blamed for fall at Aer Lingus

THE threat of industrial action by pilots is to blame for a 1.7% fall in passengers at Aer Lingus last month to 925,000, according to the airline.

It said that short-haul booked passengers in June were 837,000, a fall of 1.4% on last year, while long-haul booked passengers were 88,000, a 4.3% drop on June 2010.

The airline’s load factor, which measures the percentage of seats filled, fell by 2.1 points from June last year to 80%.