London - Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus, Thursday reported losses of 93 million euros (132.5 million dollars) for the first half of this year. The deficit was almost four times the loss reported for the same period of 2008, the airline said.
Aer Lingus chairman Colm Barrington said further cost-cutting measures would be needed to deal with an "extremely challenging" market.
He blamed a government travel tax, weak consumer confidence and falling fares for the 12-per-cent drop in revenue recorded in the first six months of the 2009 financial year.
"While traffic volumes have stabilized, consumer confidence remains weak and we see no sign of any improvement in the near term," he said.
