Aer Lingus has reported an operating loss of €82m for the first three months of this year, which also marks the airline’s traditionally weakest quarter of the year.
Overall, Aer Lingus remains buoyant. Revenue increased in the quarter, as did overall flight capacity – which was up 4%, year-on-year. Last year, the airline made a full-year operating profit of €225m; and parent group IAG said it remains well-positioned across all of its airlines.
Higher costs kept the weak quarter’s losses in line with the same period last year.
The airline’s summer season has now started, and Aer Lingus is operating its biggest ever North American network in Summer 2024 including the commencement of new services from Dublin to Minneapolis-St Paul and Denver and an expanded European leisure network.
Aer Lingus said it also continues to invest in improving customer experience, including redeeming AerClub flights on aerlingus.com, a new menu on long-haul services, a wider range of in-flight entertainment options, refurbished aircraft interiors, upgraded onboard Wi-Fi and a new lounge in Terminal 3 at Chicago O’ Hare Airport. Aer Lingus will also benefit from an agreement between IAG and a California-based company Twelve, to secure the production of e-SAF for airlines in the group, a key element in achieving sustainability objectives.
Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton said: “Our Q1 2024 financial results were in line with Q1 2023 in what is typically the weakest quarter of the year. We are committed to our growth strategy for Aer Lingus that will benefit the company, our employees, our customers, and the economy.”
“However, it is critical that we remain focused on managing our cost base and that economic growth is not constrained by the passenger cap issue at Dublin Airport. Dublin Airport is a critical piece of strategic national infrastructure, and the passenger cap issue needs to be urgently resolved – this requires both leadership from Government and action by the parties involved.”
On a group-wide basis, IAG – which owns Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, LEVEL, and Vueling – saw its first quarter operating profit soar to €68m, from just €9m a year earlier. Group revenue jumped from €5.9bn to €6.4bn.
Luis Gallego, IAG chief executive, said: “Our transformation initiatives and increased demand, including over the Easter holidays, have delivered another very good set of results with improvements to both revenue and operating profit.
“Our group benefits from the strength of our core markets – North Atlantic, South Atlantic and intra-Europe – and the performance of our brands. Investment across the group in transformation is delivering encouraging improvements in punctuality and customer experience at our airlines. IAG Loyalty continues to perform very well. We are well-positioned for the summer. The high demand for travel is a continuing trend.”
