Aer Lingus Group plc: Traffic Statistics – May 2011

Dublin & London, 8 June 2011: Aer Lingus Group plc (“Aer Lingus”), today announced traffic statistics for the month of May 2011.

The year-on-year comparison of Aer Lingus’ booked passenger numbers in May 2011 is distorted because there were eleven days in May 2010 when volcanic ash clouds prevented Aer Lingus from operating all of its scheduled flights.

Aer Lingus’ total booked passenger numbers in May 2011 were 911,000, an increase of 4.0% compared to May 2010. Short haul booked passengers were 832,000, a 4.4% increase on May 2010 while long haul booked passengers in May 2011 were 79,000 equal to May 2010.

Aer Lingus’ booked load factor in May 2011 decreased by 4.7 points on May 2010 to 74.6%. Short haul booked load factor was 75.1%, a decrease of 4.9 points on May 2010, with capacity increasing by 10.6% due to the impact of the ash clouds in May 2010. Long haul booked load factor was 73.6%, a decrease of 4.3 points on May 2010, with capacity increasing by 6.6% due to the impact of the ash clouds in May 2010. Booked load factor in May 2010 was inflated by customers disrupted due to the ash cloud, re-booking their flights multiple times.

Aer Lingus Regional’s total booked passenger numbers in May 2011 were 69,000, an increase of 86.5% compared to May 2010.
Detailed traffic statistics are set out on the second page of the attached press release.