Aer Lingus has seen its second quarter pre-tax profits more than double, reaching 42.2 million euros against 15.4 million euros a year earlier.
The rebound helped trim first half pre-tax losses from 20.8 million euros to 14.2 million euros. The carrier said that a strong forward booking profile “suggests that 2011 operating profit will be better than originally anticipated”.
Passenger numbers in the three months to June 30 rose by 8.3% to almost 2.6 million.
Chief executive Christoph Mueller said: “Aer Lingus experienced a strong second quarter, reporting an operating profit of 25.9 million euros, which was significantly ahead of prior year [18.8 million euros].
“This result was underpinned by the continuing positive impact of our capacity management strategy, stabilised passenger numbers, strong yield growth and the absence of airspace closures in northern Europe which occurred in 2010.
“However, first half losses were higher than last year mainly due to the IMPACT cabin crew dispute at the start of the year.
“Although economic conditions in Ireland remain challenging, we are pleased with the booking profile for the rest of the year and we are positive about our trading prospects for the remainder of 2011.
“We expect revenue growth in the second half to be broadly similar to that of the first six months. As a result, we are more positive about the profitability of the business in 2011 than we were at the start of the year.”
He added: “Our ability to generate returns in the current environment reflects the changes we have made to our business model over the past two years including a demand led network strategy, focus on revenue per seat and implementation of the ‘Greenfield’ cost reduction programme.”