Long haul passenger numbers at Aer Lingus increased nearly 13 per cent in the last year according to new figures released by the airline.
The number of long haul passengers jumped from 79,000 in May 2011 to 89,000 in May 2012, an increase of 12.7 per cent.
The number of passengers using the Aer Lingus regional service also increased year on year with 88,000 people using the service in May 2012 compared to 66,000 in May 2011.
The airline?s flown passenger load factor increased 2.9 points to 76.2 per cent between May 2011 and May 2012.
The short haul flown load factor was 73.8 per cent, an increase of 0.9 points on May 2011, with capacity decreasing by 1.6 per cent. The long haul flown load factor was 81.5 per cent, an increase of 7.4 points on May 2011, with capacity increasing by 0.5 per cent.