Aer Lingus flew 17.2% more transatlantic passengers in June against 2012 levels and broke their own record with 94.5% load factor. Goodbody has stated that they are “one of the best airlines in Europe”. Goodbody’s statement is correct because it includes the words “one of”. In actual fact they are still quite some way down the list. The cold reality of the Aer Lingus long haul passenger figures for June is that they are subject to various assisting pressures – Firstly the truly massive drive from the Irish government to get tourists into Ireland in 2013 through the Gathering initiative is obviously working, secondly Aer Lingus has added quite a slab of capacity, some 15.5%, mainly on a number of routes crossing the Atlantic and thus the rise in numbers should not be seen as a general gathering of momentum but as a boost in the here and now. The reality is that the Irish government are doing a very good job in getting bums on seats through the Gathering – what we need to look out for are sustained improvements in passenger numbers over a longer period, I would suggest looking again in October and then in March 2014 to see if the management team at Aer Lingus, with the aid of the Irish government, have played a blinder in 2013. I would amend the Goodbody statement to this: “Aer Lingus is moving in the right direction” The shorthaul operation needs closer inspection, load factors are up 3.5 points to 81.6% in June but this is still some way off where they want to be given the amount of capacity that has been cut here. The regional side operated by Aer Arann is performing well and is static on 2012 for June 2013, which in the European regional market right now should be seen as a good showing.
I would argue that it is far more interesting to look at what is going on in the foreign investment scene as a sign that airlines serving Dublin International have a better outlook. The recent investment in Ireland by State Street and BNY Mellon are signs that more seats out of Dublin International will be filled in the near future, more IDA success stories such as this will see Aer Lingus moving in the right direction, Dublin Airport is where investors should be turning for figures.
In short – the most accurate quote for the day in all of this would be: The Irish government is one of the best in Europe right now.
Aer Lingus impresses
