Aer Lingus announces H1 loss

Aer Lingus has reported a H1 net loss of €12.3 million, which is reduced from the €23.5 million net loss during H1 2013.

H1 revenue was up 6% to €697.2 million, while fare revenue per seat rose 5.5% to €89.18.

The carrier added up to 25% extra long-haul capacity in the second quarter, but this was more than accounted for by a 29.2% increase in RPKs.

Aer Lingus spokesman Declan Kearney said: “If you look at what other carriers are saying about the North Atlantic routes, they believe the market is over-supplied. That’s not what we’re experiencing.”

Aer Lingus has also reported a Q2 operating profit, and this improvement came despite the loss of roughly €10 million due to strike action by cabin crew earlier this year; without that negative impact, the airline said it would “have approached breakeven” in its H1 results.

In his full-year outlook, CEO Christoph Mueller said he expects operating profit before exceptional items would be “at least in line with 2013 (i.e., €61.1 million).”