Aer Lingus Reports Record March Bookings

Irish carrier Aer Lingus saw a huge surge in bookings in March to a monthly record of more than 1 million, it said Thursday.

On March 11 the former state airline posted an after-tax loss for 2008 and said it would not meet its earlier forecast for a pre-tax profit in 2009.

Chief Financial Officer Sean Coyle said then of a sharp downturn in bookings since the beginning of the year, which he said was forcing Aer Lingus to cut fares aggressively to keep volume up.

"The airline's web site experienced a huge surge in bookings during March with the highest number of daily visitors recorded on March 10th when almost 250,000... logged on," the airline said in a statement on Thursday.

Consumer sentiment remained subdued and it had stimulated demand by cutting ticket prices, it added.

Ryanair, which earlier this year withdrew a hostile bid for Aer Lingus, has said it would formally accuse its Irish rival of market manipulation over what it said was misleading guidance.

In its defense plan against Ryanair in December, Aer Lingus said it would post a pre-tax profit before exceptional costs in both 2008 and 2009.