Emirates Airline has confirmed that it will inaugurate a daily flight between its Dubai International hub and Dublin, its first destination in the Republic of Ireland. The airline will use a three-class Airbus A330-200 on the route, which is due to launch on January 9, 2012.
"Dublin will be our 29th route in Europe and Emirates' customers in Ireland who currently travel through some of our UK gateways will be able to fly non-stop to our industry leading hub in Dubai and conveniently connect onwards to our broadening route network," said His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group. "We see strong potential in Ireland through its industry, technology, tourism and the huge number of Irish nationals living overseas."
Ireland has a population of around 4.5 million, but it's estimated more than 15 times that live overseas, including somewhere in the region of 80,000 Irish nationals in Australia and about 5,000 in the UAE. Other key markets are predicted to include Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, India, South Africa, Hong Kong and New Zealand.
The Republic is a popular tourist destination and last year received 6.7 million visitors, drawn by the rich ancient history, spectacular countryside, traditional Irish music, thousands of miles of scenic coastline and renowned fresh air.
“We are delighted to welcome Emirates Airline to Dublin,” said Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) Chief Executive Declan Collier. “The significant improvements we have made to our facilities in recent years, including the opening of a new passenger terminal, was a major factor in helping to win this new business and we look forward to a successful partnership with our newest customer.”
Dublin is already linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by Etihad Airways which offers ten flights per week to Abu Dhabi, while Aer Lingus has also served the Dublin – Dubai route in the past. An estimated 54,000 O&D passengers travelled between Ireland and UAE in the past year with around 18,000 travelling on the direct Etihad service. Emirates already holds a 9.9 per cent share of this traffic with around 5,000 O&D passengers flying to Dubai via its UK destinations. But, this route is more than just about O&D passengers. Alongside its 18,000 point-to-point passengers, Etihad carried an estimated 160,000 passengers to other destinations in its global network – the main markets being Sydney, Australia; Kochi, India; and Bangkok, Thailand.
Emirates Airline has already launched flights to Basra, Copenhagen and Geneva this year and will introduce links to St Petersburg on November 1, Baghdad on November 13 before inaugurating flights to Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro from January 3, 2012.
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