ONE MORE THING: Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways' enthusiasm for the Irish market hasn't been dampened by the success of its UAE neighbour Emirates, which began operating long-haul services from Dublin on January 9th 2012.
Emirates carried an impressive 220,000 in the first 12 months of its Dublin to Dubai flights. This helped to boost traffic from Dublin Airport to the Middle East and north Africa by 84 per cent last year to just under 480,000. Etihad, which has been flying from Ireland since 2007, is now planning to significantly increase its capacity from Dublin.
More seats
The airline will announce shortly plans to put a Boeing 777 aircraft on the route for six of the 10 flights each week.
As the 777 is larger than the Airbus A330 currently operating on the route, this will have the effect of increasing Etihad’s seat capacity out of Dublin by 34 per cent. There will also be more seats available in the business cabin, where long-haul airlines traditionally make their profits.
In total, that’s about 900 extra seats to be filled by an assortment of executives, emigrants, backpackers and sun-seekers. The extra capacity is due for take-off in the summer.
