Industrial action hits Aer Lingus numbers

The number of passengers flying with Aer Lingus decreased in November as threatened industrial action hit the airline’s main operations.

But Aer Lingus Regional saw its passenger figures rise during the month, leading to an overall increase in total flown passengers for the brand.

In total, 766,000 passengers flew with both Aer Lingus and Aer Lingus Regional over the month, a 2,1 per cent rise compared with November 2011. The mainline services accounted for 680,000, a decreases of 0.4 per cent. The regional routes totalled 86,000 passengers.

The number of passengers flying short haul was 679,000, a rise of 1 per cent year on year. Long haul passengers rose to 87,000, a rise of 13 per cent.

On Aer Lingus's mainline service, load factor rose by 1.5 points to 76.6 per cent, overall, and fell to 7.05 per cent on its short haul routes as threatened industrial action affected the airline. Long haul flown load factor was 85.7 per cent, up 8.4 points on November 2011.