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LONDON (Alliance News) - EasyJet PLC on Thursday reported flat passenger numbers in January and said its planes were slightly less full, while Aer Lingus Group PLC said its traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres outpaced growth in available seats, meaning its planes were more full.
FTSE 100-listed budget carrier easyJet said it carried 4 million passengers in January 2015, flat year-on-year, while its load factor fell by 0.3 percentage point to 85.1% from 85.4%. The passenger numbers and load factor are both weaker compared with December, when it flew 4.6 million passengers and recorded a load factor of 88.4%.
For the 12 months to the end of January, easyJet's passenger numbers were up 6.3% to 65.4 million from 61.5 million a year earlier, while its load factor was up 1.4 percentage points to 90.8% from 89.4%.
Aer Lingus said its traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres rose 5%, ahead of the 1.2% rise in its available seat kilometres, pushing its load factor in the month up by 2.4 percentage points to 68.9% from 66.5%.
Aer Lingus said it carried 546,000 passengers in January, down 4.5% from the 572,000 carried a year earlier. The Irish carrier's passenger numbers were dragged lower by a weak performance in its larger short-haul business, while its long-haul numbers pushed higher. Its short-haul passenger numbers were down 7.6% to 474,000 from 513,000 a year earlier, but long-haul passenger numbers rose 22% to 72,000 from 59,000.
The fall in passenger numbers echoes its performance in December, when it said passenger numbers fell 4.5% to 619,000, from 648,000 a year earlier, as an increase in long-haul passengers proved insufficient to offset the decrease in short-haul. Still, the more important traffic measured in revenue passenger kilometres rose 6.1% on the year. Capacity measured by available seat kilometres rose 8.8%, meaning its December load factor decreased 1.8%.
Revenue passengers are those that pay commercial fares, and exclude free staff flights and free children's flights. Revenue passenger kilometres include the kilometres flown, by stages, and is an attempt to measure sales volume.
Earlier this week, Ryanair Holdings PLC reported strong growth in passenger numbers in January, and said its planes were more full than a year earlier, confirming a trend it reported on Monday when it reported its third quarter results.
Europe's largest low-cost carrier said passenger numbers were up by 1.3 million on the year in January to over 5.98 million, while its load factor rose to 83%, from 71% a year earlier. Passenger numbers in the 12 months to the end of January were 87.8 million, up 8% on the previous 12 months.
Aer Lingus is currently the subject of a takeover offer from International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, the owner of British Airways and Spanish airlines Iberia and Vueling. Earlier this week, IAG offered a number of commitments in order to try and secure the support of the Irish government, a major shareholder in Aer Lingus, for its EUR1.36 billion takeover offer.
IAG said that unless there is "explicit Irish government agreement", Aer Lingus' 23 slot pairs at London Heathrow will not be sold, including to other IAG airlines, while Aer Lingus' name, head office location or place of incorporation in the Republic of Ireland will not be changed.
In addition, IAG said it is prepared to offer a further commitment to operate the slots on Irish routes for five years.
"We are committed to maintaining and strengthening Aer Lingus," Willie Walsh, IAG chief executive, said in a statement.
Shares in easyJet were down 1.9% to 1,745.00 pence on Thursday, while Aer Lingus shares were down 0.8% to EUR2.237.
By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance
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