Aer Lingus announced it carried 648,000 passengers in February down 1.5% noting the difference with prior year leap year. In the long-haul segment it carried 43,000 passengers down 4.4% with a load factor 65% up 0.1% on a 3.5% reduction in capacity.

In short-haul segment it carried 532,000 passengers down 3.9% with a load factor 70% up 1.5% on a 9.7% reduction in capacity, noting network changes reduced average sector length leading to an increase in load factor of 1.5 points compared with February 2012.

Aer Lingus Regional carried 73,000 passengers up 23.% and year to date carrying 138,000 passengers.

Compared to the Association of European Airlines (mainly so-called legacy carriers) as a whole, the Aer Lingus passenger load factor was similar on short-haul routes (70.0% v.70.2%) and much lower on the North Atlantic routes (65.0% v. 76.3%)

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