Aer Lingus has declared a first-quarter loss of €48.5 million, blaming a late Easter and the threat of industrial action for the performance. The first three months of the calendar year are normally loss-making for the airline, that has said that its revenue for the period is consistent year-on-year, and that its short-haul business is generally profit-generating for the three months.
Aer Lingus's CEO Christopher Mueller remarked "Forward trends are positive, especially in long-haul. We continue to expect that our operating result for 2014 will be broadly in line with 2013."
He explained also that the company's CORE cost-cutting operation is on schedule: "The relevant workstreams have been identified, the required business cases have been commissioned and a programme office has been established."
First-quarter fuel-costs dropped by 7.6% compared to the same period in 2013. Aer Lingus has hedged 70% of its forecast fuel-requirements at $956 per 1,000 kilograms.
Owing to additional staff and a salary increment, staff-costs rose by 5.3% on the new US routes.
