Etihad Airlines, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to launch four direct flights a week from Dublin to the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
Flights will begin on July 2nd with a capacity of 1,600 passengers a week.
James Hogan, Etihad Airways' Chief Executive, said today "There is enormous demand for this new Etihad frequent service between these two rapidly expanding economies. Trade ties have increased considerably during the last decade and Etihad looks forward to supporting further growth when our flights start in July."
There are currently approxiamately 3,000 Irish people living in the UAE and annual trade figures between Ireland and the UAE were worth €225 million last year.
The Taoiseach visited the UAE earlier this year to forge new business links between the two countries.
