The chief executive of Aer Lingus has said it is inevitable that fares at the airline will rise as a result of rising oil prices.
Lynne Embleton said fuel costs are a large part of the overall cost base of an airline, typically making up 25-30%. "When fuel price goes up it is inevitable eventually that will be passed through to customers," she said. "It doesn't happen immediately but you would expect the industry to recover those costs," she added.
The CEO claimed the airline still has low fares available both to European and US destinations. "But ultimately we do see fuel costs needing to be reflected in price," she added.
Ms Embleton also said that Aer Lingus's plans to recover its level of services and passenger numbers had not been hit by disruption caused by staff shortages in airports, including Dublin, and elsewhere. "We are absolutely still flying the programme that we set out, we are at 85% of 2019 capacity already and as you know that it is intended to get to 90% at the peak and we’re absolutely on track for doing that," she said. "You’ve seen globally the impact of supply chain shortages and problems with airport security in many many airports around the world and we are not immune to that," she added. "We’ve recruited, we’ve been pleased with the number of people who want to join Aer Lingus, and we are ramping up nicely," she stated.