Aer Lingus has reported operating profits of €205m for the year to the end of December, down from the €225m reported the previous year.
The airline said the drop in profits was due to industrial action in July and strong competition at its hub in Dublin from US carriers in the second and third quarters of last year.
“The summer results were impacted by the industrial action, but what I think we see here is momentum in the business,” CEO Lynne Embleton said.
“If we exclude the industrial action we were up on 2023, quite significantly,” she told Morning Ireland.
“We were really strong on quarter 4, bookings were coming in really well and we’ve extended our network into the winter with new sun routes to Marrakesh, Malta, Seville and the big one, Las Vegas.”
She said the cost of the strike was not passed on to customers.
“No, not all, ” she said. “The fares we’ve had have been very competitive. There has been a lot of capacity that has come into the market, particularly on the North Atlantic routes, and we’ve been competing strongly as we always do, but you see the impact in the financial results.”
The airline CEO said there was no danger of industrial unrest this summer even though cabin crew and ground staff are also looking for pay increases.
“The pay agreement with our cabin crew and ground staff goes through to the end of 2025 so in due course we will be starting conversations with them,”
Asked if they will get a pay increase; she said, “They’ll absolutely get a pay increase, yes.”
The fourth quarter at Aer Lingus saw a strong performance and the airline posted a €56.7m operating profit in that quarter, which marked a significant improvement on the fourth quarter of 2023.
Aer Lingus said it carried a total of 11.018 million passengers last year, up 2.6% on the 10.743 million passengers it carried in 2023 as it operated its largest-ever North American network.
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During the year it started new routes to Denver, Minneapolis St Paul and Las Vegas and it now has the fourth largest number of North American destinations amongst European airlines.
On the issue of the passenger cap at Dublin Airport, Ms Embleton said the High Court stay is temporary and a permanent resolution is needed. “It’s well established that the value of aviation to the economy and to jobs is well understood now, and this passenger cap needs to be resolved on a permanent basis.”
She also highlighted another planning issue which she said has the potential to be even more damaging,; “the imminent decision on night noise”.
“The idea that we built a new runway, costing over €300m, and there is a consultation to reduce the number of prime time movements down from 110 on average per night to just over 30 would have a devasting impact on the operating of the hub, the timing of flights for business travel, indeed our ability as an airline to drive efficiency out of the aircraft assets,” she said.
In a later conference call with journalists, Ms Embleton said the idea of reducing nighttime flights is “absolute madness”.
“We agreed with the definition of the night period but it was this strange insertion into the draft decision that the number of movements in the night would go down from an average of 110 to 35 is absolute madness,” the Aer Lingus CEO said.
“If you think about the functioning of an airport, you think about where flights need to come in from Europe and the US and connect on, you can’t do that with this level of reduction,” the Aer Lingus CEO said.
“From an airline perspective, if you shorten the day and the decision doesn’t allow us to operate our airport efficiently, then the return we get on assets diminishes, and then the likelihood of investing in Ireland, when you are part of a very strong, successful group that has got plenty of places they can put their capital,” she said.
“So this is serious, and it’s a one that I have mentioned before. It’s not as prominent in discussion as the passenger cap, which is more obvious, but I believe it’s got the potential to be even more damaging,” she added.
The airline said it used an increased supply of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) last year – 5,595 tonnes in 2024 compared to 750 tonnes in 2023. It is aiming to to use 10% SAF by 2030.
Aer Lingus chief executive Lynne Embleton said the the airline’s results, and in particular the positive performance in the fourth quarter, demonstrate underlying momentum within the business.
“With additional A321 XLRs joining our fleet, Aer Lingus has a compelling growth ambition that will benefit the airline, our customers, our employees and the economy,” Lynne Embleton said.
“We remain focussed on continually improving our efficiency and productivity in order to further invest in growth, enhanced customer experience and sustainability,” she said.
“We welcome the clear commitment in the programme for Government to address the passenger cap issue – it is critical that the Government urgently implements a solution that gives the longer-term certainty that is needed,” she added.
Its parent company IAG today reported adjusted operating profit of €4.44 billion, above analysts’ expectations from a company-compiled poll for €4.08 billion.
