While Etihads presence in Dublin is much welcomed I cant see any single benefit in terms of a traveller wanting to fly to mainland asia so to speak in going through Abu Dhabi instead of the many other options through europe. Yes Etihad offer excellent service and good routings, but from an Asia perspective its "just another way" of getting there - and frankly as a regular traveler to asia I would not fancy flying for 7 hours and than stopping and than another 6 hours. Give me a 1 hour hop and than a long haul flight any day. Etihad wins in terms of traffic to Australia with the "just one stop". What is desparately needed is indeed direct flights to China, most likely and ideally Beijing. And there certainly is demand - in fact I would say they would be absolutely booked out based on a frequency of 4 flights a week with an A330 (CA/HA/EI). Runway length not an issue on a Beijing routing, its the nearest destination in asia to Ireland, and coincidentally probably the best option in terms of yields, numbers, traffic etc as well. Dont underestimate the numbers of people in Ireland flying to China. I believe even business class would be full to the brim as many more business's now are eyeing up China as a viable alternative for growth as things go to the ****s here.
...but im gulity of what I was earlier complaining about....its most likely a dream. Cheap and nasty government gets you a cheap and nasty result. Do you see Cowan and Coughlan discussing these issues over tea ? Neither do I ! Id say both of them are busy picking themselves up off the floor after a hard nights boozing.