Aer Lingus carried a record number of passengers last month as 1.138 million flew with the airline - that's an increase of 7.3% on the same period last year.

The performance of its transatlantic services remained strong, increasing by 16.9% to 173,000.

In the highly competitive short haul market the Irish airline continued to grow, increasing by 6% to 965,000.

Its overall load factor was 90.3% for the month - meaning that for every 100 seats on Aer Lingus flights 90 were sold.

After months of negotiations and political wrangling - it was officially confirmed last month that Aer Lingus will become part of IAG as more than 95 percent of its shareholders have backed the deal. 

A statement from IAG confirmed that the acquisition of the airline is now set in stone following Ryanair's formal backing of the takeover. 

IAG chief executive Willie Walsh says that the deal will bring - new routes - more jobs - better services for customers - and more tourism to Ireland.