AER LINGUS has reported another increase in its passenger numbers, saying its bookings for September were up by 5 per cent compared to the same month last year.

That figure reflects passenger numbers booked across all Aer Lingus services, including its regional operations, with the increase of 2.9 per cent in bookings on its own mainstream service.

The largest growth was in long-haul, where booking were up by 7 per cent to 92,000. The short-haul business, which makes up the bulk of Aer Lingus’s business, saw an increase of 2.5 per cent to 862,000.

The booked load factor – the proportion of seats filled on flights – was also up, from 81 per cent to 83.9 per cent, with the long-haul sales again driving growth, as load factor on those flights increased by 5.2 per cent to 87.

The airline’s regional services also reported impressive growth, with passenger numbers reaching 71,000 – an increase of just under 45 per cent on the same time last year.

Aer Lingus has now reported an increase in traffic numbers for each of the last three months.