Aer Lingus reports leap in profits
Aer Lingus is more positive about its future after seeing an improvement in operating profit for the second quarter of this year, which was up from €18.8m last year to €25.9m.
Profit before tax was up from €15.4m in the second quarter of 2010 to €42.2m this year.
Chief executive Christoph Mueller said: "This result was underpinned by the continuing positive impact of our capacity management strategy, stabilised passenger numbers, strong yield growth and the absence of airspace closures in Northern Europe which occurred in 2010."
Total passenger numbers increased by 8.3% and the yield per passenger rose 6.6%.
However, first half operating losses of €27.8m were €8.8m higher than last year, mainly due to the IMPACT cabin crew dispute at the start of 2011.
Mueller added: "Although economic conditions in Ireland remain challenging, we are pleased with the booking profile for the rest of the year and we are positive about our trading prospects for the remainder of 2011.
"We expect revenue growth in the second half to be broadly similar to that of the first six months. As a result, we are more positive about the profitability of the business in 2011 than we were at the start of the year."
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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