Emirates has announced that it carried a record 453,000 passengers on its route between Dubai and Dublin during 2025 as the airline celebrates 15 years of serving Dublin. Premium Economy demand has remained high following the introduction on the Dublin route. Top destinations from Ireland included Dubai, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Bangkok. Phuket and Vietnam showed sharp increases in passenger traffic. Having started the route with a single daily service using an Airbus A330-200, they soon upgraded to the Boeing 777-300ER with a second daily service added in September 2015. A third daily service was added to the route in October 2025 with an early morning departure from Dublin.
Emirates SkyCargo transported 6.2m kilograms of freight from Ireland between January and December 2025, an increase of 48pc on the same period last year. The leading cargo destinations for Irish produce include Dubai, Shanghai, Singapore, Manila, and Incheon in South Korea. Carrying up to 25 tonnes of cargo on each flight, the top five products carried out of Dublin were food, including seafood and dairy; pharmaceuticals; medical goods; computer components and high-tech products.
Commenting on the hugely impressive figures released by Emirates, the Ireland Manager, Anita Thomas said, “This growth is attributable, in part, to the addition of a third daily service on the Dublin route in October this year, together with Emirates’ ongoing aircraft retrofit programme. While we anticipated strong initial interest, bookings for 2025 and well into 2026 have remained consistently above expectations, with customers securing seats months in advance. Australia is one of our most in-demand destinations from Dublin. Emirates offers a four-class offering from Dublin; First, Business, and Economy Class, with the new Premium Economy offering introduced in June this year. This formed part of Emirates’ US$5 billion cabin retrofit programme, the largest known upgrade project in aviation history, which aims to refurbish 219 aircraft by 2026
Anita went on to say, “Beyond the substantial Irish cargo, we also carry our passengers, who experience the best of Ireland with our onboard products, every time they fly. From Keogh’s Crisps and Killowen Yogurt to Baileys Original Irish Cream Liqueur and VOYA, Irish products feature prominently across our global onboard offering. Dublin’s Botany Weavers also provides textiles, including seat and curtain fabrics, and aircraft carpets and Emirates is proud to fly the Irish flag on a global stage. Air connectivity to the Middle East, Africa and Australasia is essential for tourism, international business, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and trade. Offering the only daily non-stop flight from Dublin to Dubai, Emirates delivers the most direct and efficient access to the Middle East and beyond, eliminating the need for any European stopover.”
