Aer Lingus carried 1m passengers in July

Aer Lingus passenger traffic rose by 8.1 per cent in July to 1.032 million passengers after the airline added new aircraft and routes.

Passengers on short-haul flights rose 9.7 per cent to 903,000 while long-haul passengers dropped 2.3 per cent to 129,000.

The load factor, or proportion of seats filled, fell to 83.3 per cent from 84 per cent a year earlier.

Until the end of July this year, passenger numbers are almost 10 per cent higher than the same period in 2007 at just under 6.15 million. Over the same period the load factor is down 4.7 points at 74.4 per cent.