The number of passengers travelling on Lufthansa's two routes to Dublin rose 5.6 per cent last year, according to figures given to The Irish Times by Christian Schindler, the airline's general manager for the UK and Ireland. This compared with a 1 per cent increase in Lufthansa's group-wide traffic last year.

Mr Schindler said Lufthansa carried 370,000 passengers on routes to Dublin from Frankfurt, which runs all year round, and Munich, which is a seasonal service during the summer.

The airline has decided to increase the number of flights on the Munich-Dublin route this year to four times a week from the end of this week and five times a week during the peak summer season starting in July. It also flies three times a day to Dublin from Frankfurt.

“We had a fantastic year in 2013 [on the Irish routes],” Mr Schindler said, adding it has also made a strong start to this year.