One can only hope - it would be a fantastic win for T2 and the DAA. But Emirates are great talkers - Flanagan himself admits that they have been looking at it and looking at it. There comes a time for action, and it didnt happen when Ireland was booming. Hard to see it when the nation is melting into the ground.
More concerning, he is also wrong about the "failure" of EI in Dubai. Contrary to many reports, the route was actually quite successful with average load factors in excess of 75%. The problem was 2 fold:
1. Absolutely no marketing in the UAE of the service - appauling management on EI's part
2. EI were in a dire state as of late 2007/early 2008 and a serious cut back was needed. So Dubai was axed. Not because the route was a failure, but because the airline was in the ****s generally.
Its scary when these guys dont know what they are talking about
