Aer Lingus shares fell sharply in Dublin today after April passenger figures showed that growth failed to keep up with extra capacity.
Aer Lingus carried 2.4% more passengers in April compared with the same month in 2006, but the percentage of seats filled was lower as the airline put on more flights.
In April, Aer Lingus carried a total of 779,000 passengers, with short-haul passengers up 3.3% but long-haul passengers down 3.8% compared with April 2006.
For the year to date, the airline had 4.9% more passengers, compared to April 2006. A breakdown shows 1.8% fewer long-haul customers, while 5.9% more people took short -haul flights.
The load factor - which is the percentage of seats filled - fell 4.8 points compared with April 2006 to 78%. For the first four months the load factor was down 2.8 points to 73.2%.
Overall capacity was 5.7% higher in April 2007, compared to April 2006, with seats on short-haul flights up 10.7%, though long-haul capacity fell 0.3%.
On an annual basis, capacity was up 7.9% for the year to April 2007, with short-haul seats up 13.1% and long-haul up 1.5%.
Shares in Aer Lingus closed down six cent at €3.04 in Dublin.
