Higher fuel costs and the terrorism alert last summer, which disrupted flights to and from the UK, saw Aer Lingus record a fall in profits for 2006.
Aer Lingus's annual results, published this morning, show revenues increased 11.3% to more than €1.1bn, while its operating profit fell 6.5% to €76m.
The airline also said it spent more than €16m on fees to financial advisers and lawyers to mount its defence against Ryanair's takeover bid for the airline.
The bulk of that was shared between financial advisers Goldman Sachs, Merrion Capital, Goodbody Stockbrokers, and a variety of legal firms in Ireland and abroad.
Aer Lingus managed to increase its revenues across all its activities in 2006, with ticket sales up almost 10% at just under €998m.
Sales of food and drink, together with commissions on car hire and hotels, increased 34% to €63m.
That figure is set to rise this year following the introduction of baggage charges.
The airline carried more than 8.6m people last year, an increase of 7.3% on 2005. On short haul flights, passengers paid an average of €91 a flight, up almost 4%.
The average long haul fare increased 7% to €281, which is partly attributable to the introduction of a fuel charge on long haul ticket sales since last May.
The airline has also managed to extract greater value from staff and aircraft, with an increase in the length of time aircraft are actually in use.
The airline expects to spend much of the €400m it raised during the process of floating on the stockmarket to buy new long haul aircraft to be deployed once either an EU/US 'open skies' agreement is agreed or, failing that, a separate agreement is struck between Dublin and Washington.
Aer Lingus Chief Executive Dermot Mannion warned that improved efficiencies from staff were critical to the airline remaining competitive. The company employed an average of 3,617 people during last year.
