Aer Lingus ‘to remain profitable’ as profits fall 6%

Aer Lingus has said it will remain significantly profitable this year, despite seeing operating profits fall by well over 6% in 2011.

The airline’s latest set of annual results, published yesterday, show a decent performance for 2011 — with revenue up by 6%, to €1.29 billion and pre-tax profits up by over 210% at €84.4 million. The 6.4% fall in operating profits — from €52.5m to €49.1m — was attributed to higher fuel and airport costs.

“Our expectation, for 2012, is that the group will remain significantly profitable, albeit below 2011 levels,” management said yesterday.