Aer Lingus operating profit down in 3Q2012

Aer Lingus revenue up 6% - financial highlights for three months ended 30-Sep-2012:

• Revenue: EUR460.8 million, +5.7% year-on-year;
  • Short-hail passenger: EUR275.9 million, +2.8%;
  • Long-haul passenger: EUR116.8 million, +16.3%;
  • Passenger retail: EUR53.3 million, -1.3%;
• Total operating costs: EUR369.9 million, +8.1%;
  • Fuel: EUR106.9 million, +27.7%;
  • Labour: EUR69.9 million, +1.0%;
• Operating profit before exceptional items*: EUR90.9 million, -2.9%;
• Operating profit after exceptional items: EUR86.0 million, -8.0%;
• Passenger numbers: 2.9 million, -0.6%;
  • Short-haul: 2.6 million, -1.2%;
  • Long-haul: 298,000, +4.2%;
• Passenger load factor: 86.1%, +1.7 ppt;
  • Short-haul: 83.7%, +1.3 ppt;
  • Long-haul: 91.3%, +2.3 ppts;
• Average yield per passenger: EUR133.59, +7.2%;
  • Short-haul: EUR104.49, +4.1%;
  • Long-haul: EUR391.42, +11.5%;
• Retail revenue per passenger: EUR18.11, -0.8%;
• Gross cash: EUR990.8 million, +6.9%;
• Debt: EUR549.7 million, -4.0%. [more - original PR]

*Aer Lingus incurred EUR4.9 million of exceptional items in 3Q2012 compared to EUR0.1 million in 3Q2011. The 3Q2012 cost includes EUR2.3 million of advisory, legal and other fees related to Ryanair's offer for the Group and EUR2.3 million of redundancy and other restructuring costs.

Aer Lingus: "Forward bookings at the end of Q3 were stronger than in the same period last year. Due to increased demand, an additional aircraft is required to serve our long haul network on the North Atlantic. Fortunately, we have an A330 returning to our fleet from the extended codeshare with United Airlines and we will redeploy this aircraft to serve our North Atlantic market." Christoph Mueller, CEO. Source: Company statement, 07-Nov-2012.