Etihad will resume flying twice a day from Dublin to Abu Dhabi from next April as demand from Irish travellers continues growing, the gulf carrier said on Wednesday.
The airline currently flies 10 times a week from Dublin to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital, a route it has operated since 2007. Etihad will increase this to two flights a day between the cities from next April, Jeremy Pollock, its general manager for the UK and Ireland, confirmed.
“This marks the full restoration of our pre-pandemic capacity,” he added, predicting that the move would create greater flexibility for passengers and cargo.
Forward bookings for the Irish services are “strong”, Mr Pollock said. Flights for the extra services from April are now on sale.
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The airline flew twice-daily from Dublin to Abu Dhabi from 2013 until early 2020 when governments’ response to Covid’s outbreak prompted it to ground services around the world.
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Passenger numbers on the Dublin route are up 19 per cent so far this year, Mr Pollock said.
Etihad flies a mix of business and leisure travellers on the service. Many Irish people connect in Abu Dhabi with flights to Australia, New Zealand and southeast Asia. Abu Dhabi’s popularity as a destination is also growing.
Alpna Matthews, regional general manager, Americas, UK and Ireland, said Irish customers were booking new destinations that the airline planned to add next year.
The company plans to increase its fleet to 160 aircraft by 2030 from 115 now. Ms Matthews acknowledged that airlines generally were wrestling with delays in delivery of new aircraft from manufacturers, including Boeing and Airbus.
However, she added that Etihad had been “fortunate this year” with its deliveries. The company is scheduled to receive 15 jets in 2025.
The carrier is buying several A321 LR (long range) aircraft from European manufacturer Airbus, a model that Aer Lingus began flying last year. The plane is designed to cut the cost of flying over longer distances.
Ms Matthews noted that the carrier would not use it on the Dublin route, where it will continue to deploy Boeing Dreamliner and 777 aircraft.
The airline is working on a retrofit of its Boeing fleet.
