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Aer Lingus cabin crew on strike last month Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland
Sky Traffic
Strike drives Aer Lingus May passenger numbers below 2013 level
Long haul journeys are way up, thanks to a big increase in capacity.
AER LINGUS RECORDED a decrease in passenger numbers last month when passengers carried by the airline’s regional operator are excluded.
Overall, passenger numbers across the airling decreased by 0.8 per cent, with the greatest dip in short haul passenger numbers which were down by 3.5 per cent compared to last year.
A total of 795,000 passenger journeys were recorded last month, down from 824,000 last year.
The airline was forced to cancel hundreds of flights over the June bank holiday weekend due to a strike by cabin crew demanding better working conditions.
Long haul increase
The airline saw a major bump in long-haul passenger numbers, which climbed 20.6 per cent to 129,000. This was driven by an expansion of capacity in Aer Lingus’ long haul routes, which were increased by 25.9 per cent.
Ther was a slight decrease in the overall capacity on shorthaul, which dipped by 0.3 per cent to 1,188,000 seat kilometers.
The overall percentage of Aer Lingus seats filled across all flights decreased by 1.1 per cent to 78.7 per cent.
Aer Lingus regional saw a 35.6 per cent increase in passenger numbers to 122,000. when these numbers are included, passenger numbers across the group climbed by 2.4 per cent.
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