Emirates follows Etihad into Dublin

Emirates, based in Dubai, has announced that it will begin daily flights to Dublin from January 2012, marking its first route to the Republic of Ireland.  It will compete with Etihad, currently operating a 10 times a week service between its home base of Abu Dhabi – just an hour's drive from Dubai – and Dublin. 

Emirates Vice President UK and Ireland, Laurie Berryman, said that he expects between 65% and 75% of the traffic originating from Ireland to consist of passengers travelling on from Dubai to destinations in the Far East and Australasia.  About 70% of Etihad's passenger traffic from Ireland travels onward to destinations in the east, including countries such as Australia.

An Airbus A330-200 will be deployed between Dubai and Dublin, offering First, Business and Economy Class.

Ireland has a population of around 4.5m, but it is 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.  Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum – the supreme ruler of Dubai – is a stud farm owner in Ireland. www.emirates.com

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