Traffic Statistics – April 2011

Dublin & London, 5 May 2011: Aer Lingus Group plc (“Aer Lingus”), today announced traffic statistics for the month of April 2011.

The year-on-year comparison of Aer Lingus’ booked passenger numbers in April 2011 is impacted by two events. In April 2010, seven days of Aer Lingus’ operations were impacted by the closure of Irish and UK airspace and parts of European airspace due to ash clouds resulting from the eruptions of a volcano in Eyjafjallajoekull, Iceland. In addition, Easter 2011 occurred in April in 2011 whereas in 2010 the Easter holiday period commenced in the last week of March.

Aer Lingus’ total booked passenger numbers in April 2011 were 822,000, an increase of 19.3% compared to April 2010. Short haul booked passengers were 750,000, a 19.8% increase on April 2010 while long haul booked passengers in April 2011 were 72,000, a 14.3% increase on April 2010.

Aer Lingus’ booked load factor in April 2011 decreased by 4.9 points on April 2010 to 70.9%. Short haul booked load factor was 71.9%, a decrease of 5.1 points on April 2010, with capacity increasing by 27.6% due to the impact of the ash clouds in April 2010. Short haul load factor in April 2010 was inflated by customers disrupted due to the ash cloud re-booking their flights multiple times. Flown short haul load factor in April 2011 was 70.1%, which represents a decrease of 1.7 points on flown short haul load factor in April 2010. Long haul booked load factor was 69.0%, a decrease of 4.5 points on April 2010, with capacity increasing by 21.6% due to the impact of the ash clouds in April 2010.

Aer Lingus Regional’s total booked passenger numbers in April 2011 were 64,000, an increase of 93.9% compared to April 2010. Aer Lingus Regional commenced services on 28 March 2010 with three aircraft operating from Dublin and Cork. The Aer Lingus Regional fleet has since grown to six aircraft and now also offers services from Shannon.