B-1549 Boeing 787-900 Hanian Airlines

The introduction of direct flights to Hong Kong by Cathay Pacific which commenced four times weekly from 2 June using Airbus A350-900 aircraft and new Hanian Airlines Beijing service  commenced on 12 June operating four times weekly initially using Airbus A330-300 aircraft was reflected in the latest Dublin Airport June passenger figures, with other international traffic, which includes flights to the Middle East ,North Africa and Asia Pacific region, growing by almost 28% to almost 92,000 passengers.

Tourism Ireland estimates that about 70,000 Chinese visitors came to the island of Ireland last year, up from 60,000 visitors in 2016. China is the world’s largest outbound travel market, and one of the fastest-growing, with trips from China predicted to grow to 200 million per year by 2020.

Last year 120,000 passengers travelled between Ireland and mainland China.  With about a quarter of those people per year travelling between Dublin and Beijing.  Ireland was the largest travel market in Europe for Chinese traffic that did not have a non-stop flight prior to the launch by Hanian Airlines on 12 June.

Irish Aviation Research Institute © 15 July 2018 All Rights Reserved