Traffic at Aer Lingus fell last month, with both long and short haul passenger numbers declining as the airline cut capacity at Gatwick and Cork.
The number of passengers booked to fly with the airline fell by 8.4 per cent to 716,000 during the month, compared to a year earlier. However, the company blamed this decline on the timing of the Easter holiday period, which fell in March last year, but will not take place until late April in 2011.
A total of 653,000 passengers flew short haul with Aer Lingus during March, a decline of 8.4 per cent compared to March 2010, while long haul passengers dipped to 63,000, 8.7 per cent lower.
The airline reduced its capacity by 4.8 per cent year on year, but load factor – a measure of how full flights are – still declined by 3.7 points to 72.2 per cent. The fall was seen more severely in the short haul flights, where load factor was 4.5 per cent lower, compared to a 2.1 per cent drop for long haul routes.
Last month, the airline said it improved its position significantly in 2010 despite difficult economic conditions in Ireland, but remained cautious for the year ahead due to ongoing economic weakness, rising airport charges and volatile fuel prices.
In its annual report, it said it cut its capacity to match demand, and increased load factor by 1.6 points, while average fares rose by 12 per cent.
Chief executive Christoph Mueller was paid more than €1.1 million in his first full year in office, the airline disclosed, including bonuses and pension contributions.
