Dublin Airport Welcomes New Emirates Service to Dubai

Dublin Airport today welcomed the start of a new daily long-haul service to Dubai operated by Emirates Airline.

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) Chief Executive Declan Collier said Emirates’ new Dublin-Dubai service was a major vote of confidence in the Irish economy. “We are delighted to welcome Emirates to Ireland, and I’m sure that this new daily service is merely the beginning of what promises to be a long and very successful partnership between Dublin Airport and Emirates.”

Dublin is Emirates 119th destination worldwide and Dublin follows Rio and Buenos Aires into the Emirates route network. The new route offers Irish passengers a daily direct service to Dubai and convenient onward connections to more than 100 other destinations in Africa, India, China, South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

“Additional direct services and enhanced connectivity is the lifeblood of tourism and business and this new service will be hugely beneficial for the Irish economy,” Mr Collier added.

The new daily service leaves Dublin at 12.55 and arrives in Dubai at 00.25 the following day. The return flight departs Dubai at 07.00 and arrives in Dublin at 11.30. Emirates will operate the route with an Airbus A330-200, offering First, Business and Economy class options for passengers.

“We first began talking to Emirates about the possibility of operating this service about 10 years ago,” Mr Collier said. “During the past decade we’ve kept in touch, informing them of developments in the Irish market and the new facilities that we have put in place to improve the passenger experience at Dublin Airport. This new service is the fruit of that long relationship and the hard work of many people both here in Dublin and in Dubai.”

Emirates will operate from the award-winning Terminal 2 (T2) at Dublin Airport. The Dubai service is the second new long-haul route to be launched from T2 since the facility opened in November 2010. Last year, US Airways added a seasonal daily service to Charlotte, North Carolina to its existing Dublin-Philadelphia service. Terminal 2 will get another new long-haul service in June this year, when United Continental adds a new Dublin-Washington service to its existing Dublin-Newark operation.

Emirates joins Aer Lingus, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta, Etihad, and US Airways in Terminal 2. Terminal 1 at Dublin Airport has flights from Aer Arann, Air Canada, BMI, Cityjet, Lufthansa, Ryanair, SAS and a number of other scheduled airlines, as well as charter flights for summer and winter sun holidays and ski destinations.

For further information:
Paul O’Kane 353 1 814 1897, 353 86 609 0221
Siobhán Moore 353 1 814 4108, 353 87 271 0065