From talking to a friend who is a pilot for EK he says that forwaord bookings in J and E are very strong and he says the route should see a B77W from October this year. He is almost certain of it. He said DUB is up there, if not more bookings with the likes of (MAD, PRG, CPH routes) before they got a 777.

EK CEO Tim Clark said today:

EK will also open a lounge within 9-12 months. Ongoing talks with the DAA. Where will it be? There is no room where the EI and EY are located.

I've been wondering whether there's room for a lounge on the far side of US preclearance. That does seem like a missed opportunity for someone...

Some more images of the inagural Emirates flight to Dublin from the 9th January can be found here: Emirates Inagural DXB-DUB Flight - a set on Flickr

@Noxegon:

EK (or anyone) can't have a lounge past US CBP.
Everything past it is considered US soil.

In my opinion that is a lot of wasted space once all the T/A flights have departed.

Why AI’s health is causing concern in faraway Dublin - Indian Express

Er, what?

There's clearly an issue with EK putting its lounge down there, but what precisely is the problem with an international lounge to be shared by the various airlines going to the United States?

At the moment the lounge in DUB is effectively pointless if you're flying transatlantic given that you're supposed to go through pre-clearance with plenty of time to spare.

Please not more on ai. i thought that had all been put to bed last year. wikki on the dub airport entry is showing strategic airlines operating to lca next summer and ux to pmi as well. sadly as charters but all good. anyone else any nuggets of info to add that they heard from a reliable source from a guy who works with a fella who heard from his mate who knows someone who works at the airport so it must be tru!

Seems like EK are doing very well, although time will tell once the publicity has died down. It will also be interesting to see how EY react given that they have really made the Far Eastern routes their own out of Dublin. Given that they have stayed the course longer then both Gulf and EI I can't see them rolling over too easily.

With all the new connections to Pakistan, India and China this will surely put a stop to direct routes from those locations?! We all know about the Air India saga (and they have greater problems atm), likewise PIA came very close to operating to Dublin (A310) and Hainan were strongly rumoured to be considering Dublin. Anybody heard anything about these lately?

All in all it only leaves Africa and Latin America which are relatively poorly located from Dublin (excluding connections in the UK or continental Europe). SAA were perenially supposed to be on the verge of Dunin Capetown and there have been wispers about various Nigerian carriers (thought politically this could be problematic:p). In the long run there is probably enough demand for one of those routes. Furthermore, given the expat community of Brazilians as well as strong tourist demand I am surprised that a route to Rio has not been looked at aparently.

C

Arik air had been mentioned as a possible carrier too Dub. i think they operate 738 to Lhr so may actually be possible from dub.

A carrier operating to China i woukd suggest is a no brainer for the daa but this is the daa we are talking about.

The south american traffic opersting via mad and lhr would also suggest that rio may indeed be another market to tap into.

Charter Airlines Summer 2012
 

Thomson Airways - ACE, PMI ,SSH, CFU, BOJ, LPA, AGP, LCA -New FAO (PMI reduced)

Air Contractors/Europe Airpost - NAP, VRN, PMI, SZG, HER, DBK, ACE-New ZTH (replace Monarch), New DLM (replace Pegasus)

Bulgaria Air - New BOJ (replace Air Contractors)

BH Air - BDJ via ORK (cancelled-seats on EI flights being used)

Germania - New AGP (replace Europe Airpost), FAO, MAH (replace Monarch)

Holidays Czech Airlines - HER, PMI ,ZTH, REU (not confirmed if returning)

Jet4You - AGA (will operate all summer this year-cancelled late May 2010)

Onur Air - AYT, BJV, ADB, (extra BJX replace Sky Airlines)

Iberworld Airlines - ACE, FAO, LPA, IBZ, PMI, REU* (replace Monarch), REU* (replace Spanair)
*2 weekly flights)

Tailwind Airlines - ADB

Travel Service - ACE (cancelled)

Tunisair - NBE

Strategic Airlines/Air Australia - New LCA (replace Holidays Czech Airlines)

Aer Europa will pop up at DUB a few times in May before some of the above start operations.

I'm sure we will see further changes before the summer. There is a reduction mainly from Thomas Cook.

Ireland has no bilateral air services agreement with Nigeria (see list here) so that would have to be addressed before any direct flights could start. Similarly for South America. But just because there may be a reasonable passenger flow between Ireland and (for example) Brazil doesn't mean that a direct service (presumably at relatively low frequency) would be economically viable.

Does the runway cause any restrictions for China flights?

Hmmmm hadn't heard about Arik! Thanks stab3.5up:)

840....I think the runway is one of the primary considerations for the China flights.

Aparently that is one of the main reasons that SA flights never started, even at the height of the boom when 60k Irish tourists were going to SA. Technically, Capetown and Joburg are within range from Dublin with an A332 or A343 (which are the ac most likely to be used) but they would be so restricted on Dublins runway (particularly the A340) that they would be unable to carry much or any cargo...which as you know on most longhaul routes is the paydirt:)

Good point about the bilaterals Cyrano. Whatever about Nigeria surely Brazil should be a Country the DAA/Government should be interested in! Another problem though, is the lack of competition amongst Brazilian carriers on LH routes outside Latin America, with TAM being the only such operator. At one time Varig and VASP also conducted such flights.

C

Incidentally Arik Air seems to make even Air India look like a paragon of order, discipline and good organisation (have a read of some threads in the African Aviation forum here...) so be careful what you wish for! ;)

Dates for 787 Dublin visit
 

Jan 25 to 27 according to this
Boeing Announces Second Segment of 787 Dream Tour - Jan 12, 2012

Ah yes, that makes sense to coincide with the big annual Dublin Airfinance conference.

Arik & Nigeria & TAM & Rio for Dublin - I thought I was the one whom was delusional when it came to wishing for a New York flight for Cork!

Av8 used to oprate to cpt via pmi. china only a rwy prob if flt operates direct. i think we are more likey to get an extension of an existing european route

Direct flights from Nigeria !!!!

Wonder how many passports get lots on the way :rolleyes:

Would agree..not going to happon.