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Aer Lingus Group plc, today announced traffic statistics for the volcano afflicted month of April 2010.
The airline said its operations were impacted during the month of April 2010 by the closure of Irish and UK airspace and parts of European airspace due to ash clouds resulting from the eruption of a volcano in Eyjafjallajoekull, Iceland. As a consequence of the disruptions caused by the ash clouds, there were seven days in April 2010 where Aer Lingus did not operate all of its scheduled flights. Aer Lingus’ total passenger numbers in April 2010 were 689,000, a decrease of 27.1% compared to April 2009. Short haul passengers were 626,000, a 26.1% decrease on April 2009 and long haul passengers were 63,000, a 35.7% decrease on April 2009.
Aer Lingus’ overall load factor in the month was 75.8%, an increase of 1.2 points compared to April 2009, with capacity decreasing by 29.7%. Short haul load factor was 77.0%, a decrease of 0.5 points on 2009, with capacity decreasing by 22.6%. Long haul load factor was 73.5%, an increase of 3.1 points on 2009, with capacity decreasing by 40.3%.
Goodbody analyst, Marina Devitt, commented: "Aer Lingus released traffic figures for the month of April this morning, revealing the extent of the impact of the seven days’ disruption from the volcanic ash cloud. Overall passenger numbers fell 27% yoy (-26% on short haul and -36% on long haul), as capacity was reduced by 30%, leading to an overall load factor of 75.8%. Short haul capacity fell 23% leading to load factors of 77% (down 0.5% yoy), while long haul saw capacity declines of 40%, resulting in load factors moving up by 3.1% yoy to 73.5%. The impact of the closure of European airspace, combined with an ongoing tight management of capacity as part of a rigorous revenue management programme, resulted in relatively higher declines in traffic in April for Aer Lingus, versus the LCCs (low cost carriers) and the flags, with only British Airways seeing a similar impact on its short haul business (SH pax down 27%, LH pax down 21%). We note the additional disruption so far in May, which has affected Ireland proportionally more so far than other areas of Europe, which obviously has adverse implications for Aer Lingus. At least the carrier no longer has the spectre of industrial action hanging over it, as we see with British Airways, which saw cabin crew reject a deal from the airline on Friday (by an 81% majority with a 71% turnout), which could lead to strike action for as much as 20 days (more details to be announced today). As we have commented previously, this could provide a fillip for its competitors, in particular the LCCs."
Airlines; Traffic Figures for Air France and Finnair – underlying positive trends.
"Air France and Finnair also published traffic stats this morning for the month of April 2010. Both Finnair and Air France registered declines in overall traffic (RPKs), down 23% and 16% yoy respectively. Capacity (ASKs) fell by a similar level at each airline, with Finnair seeing a fall off of 22% while Air France saw capacity down 15.3%. Load factors declined at Finnair by 3.8 percentage points to 71%, while Air France saw a marginal increase of 0.6 percentage points to 80%.
In terms of commentary, both flags point to a positive trend for the early part of the year. Finnair note that scheduled traffic (RPK) grew for the first four months of the year, while Air France highlight the fact that the month progressed in three phases with yields (RASK) up to begin with, only for traffic to collapse in the second phase due to the volcano. In the third phase, the recovery was gradual as flights resumed. As such, we have seen an improving underlying trend in traffic at many carriers (including easyJet and Ryanair) as 2010 has progressed, until the volcanic eruption closed European airspace in mid-April.
Elsewhere, we note BAA reported traffic stats this morning for the month of April, with a 23% drop yoy in passenger numbers due in large part to the closure of UK airspace as a result of the volcano. All the airports saw traffic fall between 20%-27% (with LHR down 21% and Stansted down 21%). Within the results, North Atlantic traffic was down 19% yoy, with European scheduled traffic down 23%. Domestic passengers fell 28% yoy, while those to Ireland fell 36% yoy."
