Aer Lingus passenger numbers up 4% in May

Aer Lingus' total booked passenger numbers in May were 911,000, an increase of 4% compared to May 2010, the company said today.

Short haul booked passengers were 832,000, a 4.4% increase on May 2010 while long haul booked passengers in May 2011 were 79,000, equal to May 2010.

However the airline said year-on-year comparison of its passenger numbers in May 2011 is distorted because there were 11 days in May 2010 when volcanic ash clouds prevented Aer Lingus from operating all of its scheduled flights.

Load factor, or passengers flown as a percentage of total seats available, decreased by 4.7 points on May 2010 to 74.6%.

The airline said booked load factor in May 2010 was inflated by customers disrupted due to the ash cloud, re-booking their flights multiple times.