Aer Lingus has posted an operating profit of €40m for the first six months of this year; a recovery from a first half loss of €83m last year.
Aer Lingus’ parent company, IAG – which also owns British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Air Europa – reported a first half operating profit of €1.25bn. That figure was nearly €900m – or 40% – better off than analysts had predicted.
In a statement, Aer Lingus said: “The positive financial performance achieved by Aer Lingus in H1 2023, while still below pre-pandemic levels, allows us to continue the focus on repairing our balance sheet throughout the recovery phase and beyond which is needed to fund future investment.”
The airline said it saw strong leisure business on both its long haul and short haul networks.
“We have rebuilt our capacity to pre-pandemic levels, and expanded our transatlantic routes and frequency, offering the largest ever number of seats to North America in 2023. As part of our long haul programme we began operating a new route to Cleveland, Ohio and recommenced flying to Hartford, Connecticut.
“Short haul to Europe also performed strongly during Quarter 2, with the sun destinations in high demand. While leisure travel has delivered strongly, business travel has not yet fully recovered, emphasising the key importance of the summer peak to the business.
“We are particularly looking forward to the arrival of fans in huge numbers for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic match between Notre Dame and Navy which is taking place on Saturday 26 August 2023 in the Aviva Stadium. We expect more than 40,000 international travellers making it the largest ever movement of US citizens to another country for a major event.”
