Fall in Aer Lingus passenger numbers

Updated: 14:30, Friday, 6 March 2009

Aer Lingus has reported an 8.4% fall in passenger numbers in February compared with the same month last year.

1 of 1Aer Lingus - Carried 688,000 passengers in February
Aer Lingus - Carried 688,000 passengers in February

The airline carried 688,000 passengers last month.

However, the airline's load factor - or percentage of seats filled - increased as the airline reduced routes and flights.

The load factor was 72%, up from 66.7%, a year earlier.

Passenger numbers on short-haul routes were down 8% to 620,000, with the load factor rising 5.4 points to 77.5%.

The airline's capacity on shorter routes has been reduced by more than 9% over the year.

On longer routes, passenger traffic dropped almost 12% to 68%, with the load factor up 4.2 points to 64.3%.

Capacity on long-haul routes has fallen by 20.7% over the year.

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