Aer Lingus passenger levels fall 5% as short haul suffers

Total passenger numbers at Aer Lingus fell 5% on an annualised basis in November, with the airline not anticipating any improvement on short-haul routes before the end of the year.

Aer Lingus’s latest monthly traffic statistics, published yesterday, showed that a total of 728,000 people flew with the airline in November, as opposed to 766,000 in the same month of last year.

A breakdown of the figures shows a 4.7% year-on-year decline in short-haul passengers to 647,000, a figure that includes the Aer Lingus Regional service, which is operated by Aer Arann. However, the latter service — on its own — saw a 1.2% year-on-year rise in passenger numbers to 87,000.