Aer Lingus long haul numbers soar

Aer Lingus carried a total of 828,000 passengers in October, up 8.9 per cent on the same month last year.

Aer Lingus carried a total of 828,000 passengers in October, up 8.9 per cent on the same month last year.

The load factor, or the proportion of seats filled on each flight, was unchanged from a year earlier at 75.3 per cent.

The airline's long haul passenger numbers rose nearly 25 per cent to 120,000 while its short haul numbers increased by 6.6 per cent to 708,000.

Aer Lingus augmented its fleet with two Airbus SAS A320 aircraft and two A330s earlier in the year to offer new destinations.

It commenced flights between Dublin and Washington Dulles airport in August and has added routes to Helsinki, Bucharest, Athens and Manchester, England, since the start of the year.

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