Irish airline Aer Lingus has said that cutting capacity from weaker parts of its network had helped fill aircrafts, with more streamlining of the business planned in order to bring costs in line with rivals, Reuters is reporting.
The airline, which has fended off two hostile bids by rival Ryanair, has warned it must become leaner itself or ultimately risk losing its independence.
"The actions taken to remove capacity on underperforming parts of the network has had a positive impact," Aer Lingus said in a statement.
The former state airline said revenue in the three months to the end of September fell 9.7 percent, but with its load factor—which it defines as earned revenue passenger kilometers as a percentage of available seat kilometers—up 1.3 points year-on-year to 80.4 percent.
