Aer Lingus Regional has reported its fifteenth month in a row of growth in September. Last month the airline saw growth of 12% over September last year. The Ryder Cup boosted by passengers numbers of 26% on its Scottish routes, while numbers on its Dublin to London Southend route grew by 22%. Operated by Stobart Air, Aer Lingus Regional carried 118,601 passengers, last month. Passenger numbers at Dublin Airport increased by 12% compared to the same month last year; by 43% at Shannon; and by 9% at Cork.
Simon Fagan - chief commercial officer at Stobart Air - which operates Aer Lingus Regional, says that the airline's regional model to the UK continues to deliver strong results. Mr Fagan says its success is down to a greater choice of airports, convenient flights times, a new fleet of planes and value fairs. September was a strong month for sporting events, which again boosted the airline's passenger numbers. He noted an increase in flights to Scotland from Dublin, Cork and Shannon for the Ryder Cup, while the All Ireland final also generated more passengers on its Dublin-Kerry route.
Mr Fagan says a big function of the airline's business model is to try and increase the amount of transit passengers from the UK to the US, via Dublin. Its numbers on feeding the Aer Lingus long-haul services is up 30% this year, boosted by the new routes to San Francisco and Toronto. The airline is also adding a new services from Dublin to Leeds Bradford - the first time Aer Lingus has flown to Leeds in 14 years. In February, it will also add the East Midlands airport in the UK to its network, Mr Fagan adds.
On the threat of Ebola, Mr Fagan points out that there are no direct flights from Ireland to the affected countries in West Africa - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, adding that "naturally" all airlines will comply with any safety regulations that are implemented. He says a balance needs to be struck between safety and security and passenger convenience as they travel through airports.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Asian shares are lower this morning after concerns about the global economy saw to a steep slide in stock prices on Wall Street last evening. A number of things happened this week to contribute to this, including the IMF's warning on Tuesday night that weakness in the euro zone, Japan and Brazil could hit world growth. The IMF has now cut its current-year growth forecasts nine out of 12 times in the last three years - that is because it has consistently overestimated how quickly richer countries would be able to pull away from high debt and unemployment.
Also earlier this week China's services sector weakened. Last night US stocks saw their worst fall this year after the head of the European Central Bank said the region's economic recovery may be losing steam. That came alongside weak trade data from Germany, Europe's biggest economy.
*** Apple is "massively undervalued", according to billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn. He has urged Apple's board to start a tender offer to repurchase shares using a part of its $133 billion cash pile. In a letter to Apple's board, he said he believes Apple is dramatically undervalued in today's market, and the more shares repurchased now, the more each remaining shareholder will benefit. The investor owns about 53 million Apple shares himself.
