Having cut its workforce since 2001 from 6,300 employees to 3,600, and industrial peace bought at what some believe to be an exorbitant price, it is safe to say that Aer Lingus is about as lean as it's going to get. At present the airline does 71% of its bookings on its website, which presents the company with an opportunity.

"That means there's another 29% we could be doing on the web, " says commercial director Enda Corneille.

At the moment the company does more than 90% of its bookings online in Ireland and the UK, but just 55% of US bookings and 65% in continental Europe.

Corneille also said that the company's email marketing has been efficient in generating further bookings. "We had a seat sale in May and June that generated 2.4m in revenue for just 14,000 in costs." Some 44,000 emails were sent out to promote its current seat sale.

Corneille said last week the airline's website had recorded 13,800 hits in a single day.

Aer Lingus is also understood to be in negotations with smaller regional airlines to allow seamless booking for passengers through its website to final destinations, even if Aer Lingus doesn't fly there itself. The process, called 'interlining', is a service that had been offered by travel agents, but to date has been absent from the low-cost model. Aer Lingus would link its website to other regional carriers, effectively extending its reach to other destinations. It would also then be better able to offer 'dynamic packaging' to passengers at time of booking, selling on ancillary services like car hire and hotel reservations.

"It would be innovative if they do reach those agreements, " said Stephen Furlong, an analyst with Davy Stockbrokers.