Following a hiatus of almost two and a half years, Dublin Airport has announced the resumption of the Emirates double daily service between Dublin and Dubai.
The second daily flight had been suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dublin Airport To Dubai
With the extra flight, Emirates will be able to connect up to 720 people every day from Ireland with more than 130 destinations such as Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Auckland, Melbourne, the Seychelles, and the Maldives.
The reinstatement benefits eastbound leisure and business passengers from Ireland, and Ireland’s tourism industry too, providing more options for visitors looking to visit Ireland with Emirates, which marks ten years of operations on the Dublin – Dubai route this year.
Country manager for Emirates, Enda Corneille, confirmed that the Dublin office had seen a fourfold increase in business to Dubai for the first seven months of 2022.
"The appetite for international travel has surpassed our expectations and traffic to Dubai for the current period is up 448% on the same period last year," said Corneille. "The popularity of Dubai with its year-round sunshine, outdoor lifestyle and wide range of activities and accommodation options has surged and it is one of the top destinations for Irish tourists. But in addition to Dubai, we have seen huge growth in bookings for Australia as families and friends reconnect following the reopening of Australian borders. While we all know how tough the past two years have been, we have a lot of very happy passengers onboard right now.
"This demand has been building for several months and once we could ensure that our second flight would be supported with all of the on-the-ground infrastructure and logistics needed for us to provide a premium service, we set the 1 September date. I would like to thank all of the stakeholders who have helped make this happen. We have been looking forward to this day for a very long time."
Corneille confirmed that bookings for winter are already strong and the five most popular destinations for customers from Ireland this year are Dubai, Sydney, Melbourne, Bangkok, and Mauritius.
Expanding Emirates Crew
With up to 17 crew onboard every state-of-the-art Boeing 777 flying between Dublin Airport and Dubai, Emirates has said that it will continue to recruit for both pilots and cabin crew from Ireland.
"Traditionally, people from Ireland have done well at Emirates and there are hundreds of Irish nationals working with the airline in Dubai," said Corneille. "And now with the recommencement of our double daily flight together with the high calibre of candidates that we see from Ireland, Emirates is keen to recruit even more crew from around the country."
In addition to doubling passenger capacity, Emirates has doubled cargo capacity with the resumption of the second flight, adding up to 50 tonnes of belly-hold freight.
© 2022 Hospitality Ireland – your source for the latest industry news. Article by Conor Farrelly. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
