Long-haul helps Aer Lingus with 19pc profit rise
Irish airline Aer Lingus yesterday revealed a 34 per cent increase in fare revenues from its long-haul routes, contributing to a 19 per cent overall operating profit boost at the carrier for the third quarter.
Short-haul revenue was also up, by 5.5 per cent, helping the group to its strongest third quarter period since the financial crisis.
Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller said yesterday that he was “particularly pleased” with the results and added that the company was looking to add more new long-haul routes in the coming months. “In long-haul, we carried nearly a quarter more passengers compared to last year while increasing our load factor and revenue per seat. We target further profitable growth of our long-haul business into 2015. Our new Dublin to Washington service will be launched in May 2015 and services on existing transatlantic routes will be increased,” he added.
Operating profit in the third quarter rose 19 per cent to €112.9m (£88m) up from €94.9m in the same period the year before.
For the three months to the end of September, the airline carried over three million passengers, an increase of 4.8 per cent compared with 2013.
Announcing new routes yesterday, Aer Lingus said the group would operate 24 daily departures across the Atlantic from summer 2015. There will now be a daily flight from Dublin to San Fransisco.