Passenger figures fall marginally at Aer Lingus in January

The number of passengers carried by Aer Lingus fell marginally per cent in January, the airline said today.

The company said short haul travellers fell by 1 per cent compared with the previous year, with 513,000 using the Irish airline’s services. However, long haul flights showed more positive results, with passenger figures rising to 59,000 over the month, a 7.3 per cent increase over the same month a year earlier.

Overall, 572,000 passengers flew on Aer Lingus services last month, a 0.2 per cent decline on January 2013.

Long haul load factor rose by 3.5 percentage points, with short haul load factor rising 0.8 percentage points.

Separately, Ryanair announced it increased its passenger figures last month, rising 5 per cent to 4.6 million compared with the previous year. The company said load factor was unchanged at 71 per cent.

The company has been conducting a customer service offensive in recent months as it tries to improve its image, overhauling its website to make it more user friendly, introducing allocated seating and relaxing some of the restrictions on hand luggage.

The company last year admitted its “abrupt culture” might be impacting business.

Ryanair also announced today that it would allow passengers to use personal electronic devices – including smartphones, e-readers and MP3 players - during all stages of a flight, once the device is switched to flight mode and safety demonstrations are observed.