PRE-TAX PROFITS at Aer Lingus have exceeded expectations, with the airline today reporting a 210 per cent increase in profits to €84.4 million for 2011.

Although operating costs rose 6.5 per cent from €1.163bn in 2010 to €1.239bn last year, passenger figures were up 1.8 per cent to 9.5m passengers and the average yield per passenger increased by 4.8 per cent to €112.27.

The airline’s operating profit fell from €52.5m to €49.1m.

According to its unaudited annual results for 2011, the airline’s revenue rose 6 per cent over the year to €1.28bn from €1.2bn in 2010.

The airline’s CEO Christoph Mueller said he was “very pleased” the airline was reporting an operating profit of €49.1 million in 2011.

“While the 2011 operating result was lower than that reported for 2010,” Muller said, “it was nonetheless significantly ahead of our expectations at the start of 2011 and was achieved against a difficult backdrop of non-controllable fuel price inflation, increased airport charges and challenging demand conditions in our primary markets.”