AER LINGUS carried just more than one million passengers in July, an 8.1 per cent increase on the same month in 2007, in spite of a fall-off in traffic on its routes to the United States.

In the first seven months of the year, Aer Lingus carried 5.4 million people, a rise of 10.3 per cent on the same period of 2007.

Its load factor over the seven-month period, however, declined year on year by 4.7 points to 74.4 per cent. The airline filled 71.1 per cent of its seats on routes to the US between January and July this year, compared with 79.9 per cent in the same period of 2007.

Its short-haul load factor declined by 1.3 points to 77.2 per cent.

This would indicate the fuel charges being levied by Aer Lingus as a response to rising oil prices are beginning to bite on its transatlantic business.

Aer Lingus does not levy fuel surcharges on short-haul flights, but instead charges between €85 and €110 on services to the US.

The results failed to cheer the market with Aer Lingus’s share price closing down 2.6 per cent in Dublin yesterday at €1.52.

Aer Lingus’s short-haul business enjoyed a bumper July, with passenger numbers rising by 9.7 per cent to 903,000. Its long-haul business, however, declined by 2.3 per cent to 129,000 passengers during the month.

In terms of load factors, Aer Lingus’s short-haul performance during the month was flat while its long-haul figure declined.

The airline filled 85.2 per cent of seats on short-haul flights during the month, roughly the same level as in July 2007. This was in spite of a 13.7 per cent year-on-year increase in capacity.

On flights to the US, the number of seats filled was 81 per cent, a fall of 1.7 percentage points on July 2007. Aer Lingus boosted capacity on these routes by 3.4 per cent year on year.