Lufthansa is to expand its route network into Ireland for summer 2012 with the carrier launching two new routes from its Düsseldorf Base to Dublin and Ireland West Knock Airport, in addition to restoring its seasonal Munich to Dublin route. The German consumer confidence is strong, on the back of economy growth of 3.6% (Tourism Ireland) which is driving demand for air travel.
The new Lufthansa Ireland West Knock route will carry 2,000 passengers generating €1 million in revenues, annually over 200,000 Germans visit the West of Ireland, with Ireland West Airport confident that Lufthansa will continue to grow its operation beyond 2012 with increased capacity and new routes (Anna.Aero).   

Germanwings is to increase capacity by 25% on the Cologne/Bonn to Dublin route for summer 2012 increasing frequency from three to four flights weekly (Germanwings).

The German market is the third largest travel market inbound with 380,000 German tourists visiting Ireland in 2010 (Irish Times June 2011), generating €160 million in revenues on all Ireland basis (Tourism Ireland), with German tourist numbers up 15% in the first half alone, indicating there is significant potential in the market, with Aer Lingus having launched a new route to Stuttgart this summer, and extended the operation of its Hamburg route to all year round, to capture the inbound growth opportunities from the German market.  

Düsseldorf-Dublin Route:   
Wednesdays:
LH3470 depart Düsseldorf 1045 arrive Dublin 1145
LH3471 depart Dublin 1215 arrive Düsseldorf 1505
Effective: 6th May till 26th September
Operated by Contract Air Fokker F100
Sundays:
LH3470 depart Düsseldorf 1320 arrive Dublin 1410
LH3471 depart Dublin 1450 arrive Düsseldorf 1505

Effective: 6th May till 26th September
Operated by Eurowings CRJ900

Düsseldorf-Ireland West Knock Airport Route:  (Saturdays)
LH3468 depart Düsseldorf 1050 arrive Ireland West Knock 1150
LH3469 depart Ireland West Knock 1305 arrive Düsseldorf 1605
Effective: 6th May to 29th September
Operated by CRJ900

Munich Dublin Route: (Saturdays)
LH2514 depart Munich at 1504 arrive Dublin 1630
LH2515 depart Dublin at 1715 arrive Munich 2030
Effective: 7th April to 6th of October
Operated by A320
I enclose a link to a recent Anna.aero article: Knock gets weekly Düsseldorf service next summer; IrelandGermany market trebled between 2002 and 2008

http://www.anna.aero/2011/09/15/knock-gets-weekly-lufthansa-dusseldorf-service-next-summer/

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 17th October 2011 All Rights Reserved.