Emirates took Ireland by storm last night with a high profile gala dinner to promote its brand new daily flight to Dublin, beginning 9th January.

More than 800 guests gathered for the eagerly-awaited event at The Convention Centre Dublin with Lionel Richie making a surprise appearance as the headline act. Performers from the internationally-renowned Spirit of the Dance show also entertained the guests with their energetic routines.

Earlier in the day, the airline hosted a media breakfast attended by Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide; Salem Obaidalla, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Europe & Russian Federation; Hiran Perera, Senior Vice President, Cargo Planning & Freighters and Peter Payet, Senior Vice President, Arabian Adventures, the airline’s destination management company.

“We can see unusually high demand for the first two weeks after launch. This is an excellent response from the Irish market and we have not witnessed this level of bookings, nor such strong interest in a new route, for many years,” said Thierry Antinori, Executive Vice President, Passenger Sales Worldwide. “This gives us huge confidence in Ireland and the figures support the commercial research that precedes any decision we take to launch a new service.”

Emirates has 70 flights per week to the key Ireland market of Australia, including an A380 service to Sydney. The airline is also the largest A380 operator in the world with 19 double-deckers in the fleet and 71 on order.

“Dublin has always been on our radar and there are already strong levels of trade and tourism activity between Ireland and the UAE, not to mention the important equine affiliations,” said Mr Antinori. “Equally, Emiratis like to travel to Europe, particularly during the hot UAE summer and, with its rich cultural heritage and reputation for hospitality, we think that Emirates will have a role to play in encouraging inward tourism to Ireland.”