Long haul capacity down 18% for Q3
Aer Lingus, the struggling Irish national carrier, reported a 9.7% fall in revenue for Q3.
The carrier said long haul capacity on the three months to the end of September fell by 18% compared with the same period last year.
This led to a 13.2% drop in the number of passengers on long haul.
Passenger numbers and capacity on short haul increased, respectively, by 10% and 10.5% in the quarter.
Aer Lingus said cash flow since the end of December 2008 had fallen 38.8% to €399.9m by the end of September.
This drop was due in part to €107m re-structuring costs and final payment fro two new A330 aircraft.
The airline's Transformation Plan announced last month after the arrival of its new chief executive Christoph Mueller, had now started.
The Plan is expected to bring savings of €97m, including €74m on staff costs and €23m in non-staff out goings.
Aer Lingus said it was now in talks with employees and their unions and expected these to be concluded by around November 18.
The airline said in a statement that conditions were still challenging.
But it added: However the actions taken to remove capacity on underperforming parts of the network has had a positive impact on stabilising load factors and yields while reducing operating costs.
"While the fall in yield year on year continues, the pace of decline in average fares does not appear to be accelerating currently."
www.aerlingus.com