Aer Lingus announce H1 loss of €22.3m

This morning Aer Lingus announced their H1 financial results to end of June 2008. Passenger growth of 10.5% ( 460,000 ) helped revenue grow to €632.9m but a €56.5m increase in fuel costs contributed to a loss of €22.3m for the period.For the remainder of 2008 the company has 70% of it's fuel bill hedged at $1,137 per tonne. While passenger numbers grew by 10.5%, available seat kilometers for the period grew by 24% from 8.95b during the same period in 2007 to 11.09b for 2008. As a result, load factors show a reduction from 73.6% to 72.2% YoY on short haul which represents a reduction of 1.9%. On long haul the reduction is more severe dropping from 77.5% in 2007 to 67.7% in 2008, a 9.8% reduction. Load factor for the network is overall down by 6.8% compared to the same period in 2007. For winter 2008, long haul capacity will see an 11% reduction with short haul down by 1%. The airline stated that at best they would break even in H2 leading to a full year loss. Announcing the results Dermot Mannion, said that very difficult conditions expected in 2009 would lead to a root and branch analysis of the cost base. Aer Lingus today also announced that the previously announced code share agreement with United Airlines, would become effective November 1 2008.