Ticket prices are expected to rise for some Aer Lingus passengers as a result of fuel shortages and inflation increasing costs for all airlines.

Many airlines are just now returning to pre-pandemic level profits.

CEO of Aer Lingus, Lynn Embleten, joined Newstalk Breakfast to discuss what travel could look like next year in the midst of a global economic crisis.

"Fuel, strong dollar, inflation, all adding significantly to costs for us, but also for all airlines", she said.

"The industry I think will look to pass a lot of these costs on, but we are hedged in line with the rest of the group for the rest of this year and going into next year too."

Competitive fares

Despite rising costs, Embleten said: "We'll be keeping our fares competitive."

"It's a really competitive market here in Ireland and we'll have some good value fares out there."

Aer Lingus has reached 90% of the capacity it had just before the pandemic.

"If I look ahead into next year, I will see ourselves getting back to a bit ahead actually, more than 100% of pre-COVID capacity."

The company is growing long-haul routes faster than short-haul, with growth particularly "on the US side".

New routes to America have been announced, such as to Hartford, Connecticut, and Cleaveland.

Profits

Aer Lingus has reported a significant increase in profits in the last quarter, which Embleten attributes to a "strong summer".

In the third quarter, Aer Lingus showed operating profits of €139 million, after losing €95 million in the first six months of the year.

She said there is a "strong leisure demand, both to Europe in terms of outbound tourism from Ireland, but also bringing tourists in".

"We saw an awful lot of Americans come over to Ireland this summer and we were delighted to carry them."