Aer Lingus sees rise in passengers

Aer Lingus carried 5.8% more passengers in January this year compared to the same period in 2011.

Tue, 07 Feb, 2012 - 00:00

John Daly

Total passenger numbers, including its regional operations, increased by 7.3% in January, showing a continuation of the positive trend in the company’s recent results.

The airline flew 563,000 passengers during the month, up from 514,000 in 2011, with long-haul flown numbers reaching 49,000, an increase of 2.1% on January 2011.

Aer Lingus’s flown passenger load factor, an industry measure of capacity, increased by 0.1 points on January 2011 to 62.3%.

Short-haul flown load factor was 62.5%, an increase of 2.0 points on January 2011, with capacity increasing by 4.6%.

However, long-haul flown load factor was 61.8%, a decrease of 3.9 points on January 2011, with capacity increasing by 8.0% on January 2011.

Aer Lingus regional’s total flown passenger numbers in January 2012 were 53,000, an increase of 26.2% compared to last year.

“Aer Lingus has been focused on managing revenue per passenger rather than load factor and has been successful at doing this over the last couple of years, with average yield up 6.6% in the nine months to September 2011, following an 11.4% increase in 2010,” says Brian Devine of NCB Stockbrokers.

“Consolidation and failures in the airline industry continue to benefit those companies with a strong balance sheet,” he said.

Aer Lingus is sitting on net cash of €355 million and gross cash of €927m.

“The €573m debt is related to aircraft finance and this type of debt is asset backed and non-recourse to the group. As such, the balance sheet remains in good shape,” Mr Devine added.

“Aer Lingus continues to perform well operationally, just as it has for the previous two years under the management team. The key issue remains the pension and it looks like steps are being taken to address this.”

Aer Lingus’s main rival, Ryanair, carried 4.39 million passengers for the month, a decline of 6% resulting from the company’s decision to ground up to 80 aircraft during the period due to higher oil prices.