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AER LINGUS HAS seen an increase in passenger numbers for August 2013.
It said today that total flown passenger numbers, including Aer Lingus Regional operations, increased by 0.9 per cent to 1,126,000 in August 2013 compared to the same period last year.
The vast majority of passengers were taking short haul flights, including on Aer Lingus Regional – 1,005,000 of them in total last month, a decrease of 0.8 per cent on August 2012.
But the long haul passenger numbers saw a big increase, with 121,000 taking the longer journeys, an increase of 17.5 per cent on the same time last year.
The company had previously stated that good weather conditions in July had “somewhat eroded our forward booking profile”, and the impact of this is reflected in its August short haul figures.
Last week, Ryanair was ordered by the UK’s Competition Commission to sell its 29.8 per cent stake in Aer Lingus down to 5 per cent.
Ryanair has said it will appeal the UKCC report, claiming that it is “disproven” as competition between the two airlines has, it says, intensified rather than waned.
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And Ryanair says its numbers a down. See people are willing to pay fee quid extra to be greeted with a smile…
Yesterday a French colleague was pleased to tell me that she flew Paris- Dublin- NY business class on Aer Lingus because it was so much BETTER than the rest.( me: Ryanair/ Easyjet/ Irish ferries…)
@simon Ryanair said its numbers were down burnt I bet they still make more profit than the union ruined aer lingus.when was the last time aer lingus made anywhere near the profits Ryanair did?
@nelly, I think you missed my point. Aer Lingus say their passenger numbers are up when Ryanair are reporting a drop in passenger numbers (due to the excellent weather we’ve been having). Maybe people aren’t willing to be treated like crap on a Ryanair flight and they’ll happily pay a little extra to fly with an airline that actually treats them properly as paying customers. I never mentioned profits…
Aer lingus short haul numbers are down for August too, its long haul that’s up. Which the no frills boys don’t do. So its the likes of the American airlines that Aer lingus is winning over here.
Did Ryanair actually report a drop in passenger numbers Simon, I struggle to remember them doing anything but saying that their forecasted profits (and possibly forecasted passenger numbers) for the year were lower than originally anticipated. I would be surprised if Ryanairs numbers actually fell.
Ryanair have reported a drop in numbers a couple of times over the summer as well as the profit warning earlier this week (or last week)
Maybe I did miss your point,but even with the increase in numbers aer lingus are talking about they’re still not carrying anywhere close to the numbers Ryanair are.its just a PR exercise coming from Ryanairs statement during the week.but sure the gullible people will believe it
I was just having a nice little dig at Ryanair… Nothing wrong with that!
@nelly, Ryanair have a fleet of 305 aircraft (if Wikipedia is to be believed) versus Aer Lingus’s fleet of 48 (again, Wikipedia) so of course they’ll carry more passengers. The two airlines really aren’t very comparable as they both operate very differently, long haul/short haul, different routes, Aer lingus uses major hubs across Europe, where our beloved Ryanair drops you in a field in the arse hole of nowhere if you’re lucky, etc, etc, etc
Simon if aer lingus were going to make the profit that Ryanair are going to make this year despite this profit warning.it would be a miracle
It would be a complete miracle, I agree especially as Ryanair have 6 times more aircraft than Aer Lingus…
And why is that Simon?cos people go for the cheaper better option.ive never been on a plane and said to myself god I’m happy I spent that extra 50/60 euro just so that air hostess puts on a fake smile to welcome me.
Flew Dublin to Rome last week…my Ryanair flight flew me to Ciampino Airport which was considerably closet to the city than Da Vinci is. Do your research beforehand and you wont end up in “fields” you pleb.
Word of advice if you do ever have to travel by air and opt to use Ryanair, check in online well in advance and print your boarding card, if you don’t it’ll cost you something stupid like an additional €60. Double, triple, quadruple check your carry on baggage meets their strict requirements, also don’t be surprised if the requirements at the gate differ from what’s online, as they might make you check your bag, an additional fee of €30 or €40. If you are checking a bag its over 20kgs it’s €20 per kilo. So basically, watch out for ryanairs hidden costs, they’re not always a cheap as they appear, little things like these can ruin your trip.
Thanks for the advice Simon but I do fly regular enough and having been caught out once by Ryanair it’s the only time I have.as someone on a previous thread called it “the idiot tax”if you don’t read the small print its hour own fault
Also look at the breakdown of the cost of the flight you’re booking. They charge you for the privilege of checking yourself in online and printing your own boarding card, then they charge admin fees also. God forbid you get caught out with their insure thing, don’t know if they still do that. Then of course there’s the charge for paying by credit card (which seems to be standard practice in the industry).
With Aer Lingus you are at least assured you will have enough fuel to get to your destination
Bill when have you ever heard of a Ryanair plane running out of fuel and crash landing
3 aircraft declared Fuel Maydays but didn’t actually run out of fuel. Guess that’s ok then?
Clown.
I don’t agree that if you don’t spot something in the small print it’s your own fault. Whatever happened to transparency? Why should buying an air ticket be any different to any other purchase. I challenge you that if you bought something in Harvey Norman or Argos or any other retailer and got screwed because you didn’t read something in the small print you would be the first to complain.
If its a reasonable charge then why is it hidden away in the small print?
If you went to the supermarket shopping and was followed by a staff member putting stuff into your trolley when you turned your back what would you think?
Don’t agree at all.
They got the pricing more competitive , no sleeveen charges , easier website and the smile all helped.
Aerlingus welcome back you have been missed.
There is one sleeveen charge on their website, after you’ve purchased your ticket and everything is finalised they throw up this page that offers your the option to buy your seat but there’s nowhere to click that you don’t want it. You have to leave the website to get away from it. It’s easy enough to avoid when you know what’s going on but it’s a little bit on the sneaky side.
Also have to check in less than 3 days before each leg of flight or pay to reserve a seat.
Very sneaky extra as not mentioned until after flight it’s paid for
If travel for more than two days need to check in for return leg while abroad or pay for seat reservation.
Don’t tell me aer lingus gave no sneaky extras, they are as bad as Ryanair, people just choose not to see this as they hate Ryanair too much.
i used to flyor we my sister and i all the time from usa to ireland we are from ireland, how ever the food got ugh terrible, and the service also , i have ckd the $ amout to shannon this sept holidays and A/lunghue was 190.00 more ret flight so there ya have it ! ant comments welcome, ua has our business once agion, i used to love to fly a/ lungus /
What in gods name does that even mean Catherine? I’m honestly completely lost, something about your sister and bad food!
Aer Lingus’ prices are generally in the same price range as ryanair now and you dont get half the hassle with aer lingus.
I flew more with Aerlingus this year because their pricing is more competitive than it used to be.
They Ryanair website is the worst site I’ve ever had to use and all the boxes you have to tick to say no
To just to get my ticked are crazy, no I don’t want a bloody bag or a mobile phone I just want a flight.
I use the site frequently and am used to it but it must be very confusing for people who don’t have great computer skills or visually impaired.
I was looking at flights to the Canaries with both Aer Lingus and Ryanair,Aer Lingus was €4 cheaper than Ryanair also Ryanair are sneaky f**ks they have the opt out of insurance box in between the countries that you select from.
It’s not all emigration, those big multinationals also contribute.
Ryanair is only good for a boozy weekend flight away to the UK… Don’t expect a whole lot and you won’t be disappointed..
It’s because they don’t charge extra for seatbelts….
I fly air lingus the whole time to uk it cheaper faster nice comfy seats loads of space they fly to an airport close to we’re your going and not 100 miles away and if I was to book a flight for London on Saturday Ryan air would want €104 and fly me to stansted were as air lingus would fly me to heathrow for €69.99
Well they can’t get any cheaper! I booked a return flight, Dublin to Heathrow, the other day and the flights were listed as free. The €109 I paid was all taxes and fees. €35 tax going out, €60 tax coming back and €14 admin charge!
The cheapest fare from Heathrow is £102. Gone are the days when they competed with BMI. I could get a ticket from £60.
Delighted to hear this news, I think their prices have been coming down a bit of late with small increases in Ryanair that have basically wiped out the difference. Good healthy competition between the two is exactly what is need, especially for travellers like me that don’t care about anything other than price. That being said does does this not basically prove that the UK competition authority is wrong about the negative effect that Ryanairs 29% stake is having on AL’s performance though.
No Ted. It doesn’t.
Show me 1 monopoly that hasn’t abused their position.
17.5% increase on long haul flights? I bet they one way.
It’s actually more coming in to Ireland ill have you know! That’s a fact
Yes that’s right over 20,000 people emigrated to the us alone in august ……..
yeah think its called emergrating
It’s actually called emigrating but nice try Kev.
The,re flying !!!!!! Way better then Ryan……
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