Aer Lingus has posted a first quarter 2015 operating loss (before net exceptional items) of €48.4 million. The airline reported higher operating costs, up 6.7%. The group has reported revenue growth of 7.9% during the first quarter to €280.0 million, with average fare revenue per seat up 12.9%. Operating costs rose to €328.4 million from €307.9 million in the year-ago quarter, reflecting increased fixed costs.
Long haul fare revenue rose 39.6% with 20.6% increased fare revenue per seat and four percentage points higher long haul load factor.
Short haul revenue per seat rose 1.2% with a 2.1 percentage point increase in short haul load factor. Load factor rose 3.1% to 72.9%. Passenger numbers were down 1.5% at 2.05 million.
Retail revenue per passenger rose 3.7% to €21.87; with cargo revenue 15.1% higher.
The airline has received some benefit in the quarter of lower fuel prices; higher US Dollar costs mostly offset by US Dollar revenues and hedges.
It has a strong net cash of €650.7 million at the end of the quarter; net cash €97.0 million higher than Q1 2014.
“The Board and management team of Aer Lingus strongly remain of the view that a combination of Aer Lingus and IAG has a compelling strategic rationale and will deliver significant benefits to all stakeholders in Aer Lingus,” the airline statement read.
Stephen Kavanagh, Aer Lingus’ CEO said: “The IAG offer to acquire 100% of Aer Lingus will deliver significant benefits for all Aer Lingus stakeholders. However, notwithstanding the opportunities that this combination will bring, we are focused on building Aer Lingus and improving our return on invested capital performance.”
Kavanagh added: “In the coming quarters we will focus on capitalising on peak demand opportunities, while aggressively managing our cost base. On short haul we will continue our demand-led strategy to drive occupancy, manage per available seat yield and retail revenue per passenger. On long haul, we will see the commencement of the new Washington route as well as increased frequencies on New York, San Francisco and Orlando routes. Overall our forward trends are positive.
“Achieving cost competitiveness to support margins and to facilitate a flexible response to changing competitive demand conditions is our highest priority. To this end, we are in the process of implementing the various CORE improvement initiatives as well as identifying additional efficiency measures.”