Aer Lingus passenger numbers fall by 4.6% in December 2008

Aer Lingus, the flag carrier of Ireland, suffered a 4.6% fall in its passenger numbers in December 2008.

The drop in passenger umbers is mainly attributed to the elimination of Aer Lingus’ Dublin to Los Angeles route.

It may be noted that Ryanair, another Irish airline headquartered in Dublin and Aer Lingus’ rival in Ireland, has posted a double-digit growth. (Ryanair is the largest low-cost carrier in Europe.)

Ryanair had reported, two days ago, an 11% increase in the December 2008 passenger numbers, with its load factor unchanged from the same period a year ago.

Ryanair also said it carried almost 58 million passengers in 2008 and planned to increase the number to over 65 million passengers in 2009.

Aer Lingus has posted the loss at a time when it is fighting to ward off a takeover bid, worth 750 million euros ($1.02 billion), by Ryanair.

In a statement, Aer Lingus, based at Dublin Airport and operating services to Europe, Africa and North America, said it carried 703,000 passengers in December 2008 even as the percentage of seats occupied on individual flights also dropped.

Aer Lingus’ load factor (seats filled as percentage of capacity) was 69.4% in December 2008 compared with 70.8% in the same period a year ago.

The carrier’s passenger traffic fell by 6% in December 2008 from the same period of 2007, with declines on both short-haul and long-haul routes.

The year-on-year drop in long-haul passengers stood at about 11%, even as the percentage of seats filled fell by 0.5 points to 72.6%.

Aer Lingus’ long-haul passenger numbers are expected to fall further in the coming months after the airline recently told the market that it would reduce trans-Atlantic capacity by 11% in the winter months, according to airline experts.

Regarding short-haul routes, Aer Lingus’ capacity rose by 1.4% in December 2008, but passenger numbers fell by 1.5% as the percentage of seats filled slipped by 1.9 points to 66.9%.

Aer Lingus’ full-year passenger tally rose by 6.5% to 10.4 million.

Aer Lingus had said a week ago that it expected to make a profit in both 2008 and 2009 “despite a projected 2008 operating loss of about 20 million euros, as it is cutting costs and because fuel has become cheaper.”

However, the media quoted an aviation analyst as remarking: “Aer Lingus is likely to become a part of the industry-wide consolidation trend at some point, though I do not want to draw any conclusions from the traffic data alone. Market conditions are tough and companies respond differently. Some companies respond by cutting capacity and trying to maintain fares or even increasing fares; others respond by cutting fares and increasing capacity.”

Neil Glynn, an analyst at NCB, said that he expected Aer Lingus to post an operating loss of 22 million euros for 2008, with a revenue growth of 6%. “As the Irish economy continues to weaken,” Glynn added, “we expect total revenues to decline by near to 6% at constant currency in full-year 2009.”