Aer Lingus said this morning its passenger traffic numbers rose by 15.4 per cent last month to 898,000 people on the back of new routes and additional aircraft.
In a statement the airline said its short-haul routes had seen a 15.7 per cent increase in passenger numbers and a 13.4 per cent increase on long haul.
The load factor, or proportion of seats filled, fell to 75.3 per cent from 78.1 per cent when compared with the same period a year earlier, Aer Lingus said.
On long-haul flights the load factor dropped by over 7 per cent to 72.2 per cent as capacity for the month increased by 31.5 per cent following the introduction of two new aircraft.