German national carrier, Lufthansa, is to significantly increase capacity on its route between its Bavarian hub at Franz Josef Strauß International Airport in Munich and Dublin Airport in the Republic of Ireland. The market will be served on a six times weekly basis during the forthcoming winter 2015/2016 schedules, up from twice weekly last year.

The move is a major expansion for the route, which went year-round for the first time last winter and should bring a further boost to German visitor numbers to Ireland. Germany is now the third largest market for overseas visitors to Ireland, with visitor numbers increasing by 32 per cent to 560,000 between 2011 and 2014.

“We’re delighted that Lufthansa is expanding its Munich service from twice a week to six times per week this winter,” said Vincent Harrison, managing director, Dublin Airport. “Lufthansa has been growing its business significantly in Dublin in recent years and we look forward to working closely with them to further expand its offering in the Irish market.”

Passenger traffic at Dublin Airport has grown 15 per cent in the first five months of this year, as the airport welcomed an extra 1.1 million passengers during that period. “We’re seeing growth across all sectors of our market this year,” said Harrison. “This summer, Dublin Airport welcomes 21 new services and we’re also seeing significant extra capacity across a wide range of our existing routes.”

Lufthansa plans to operate the Munich - Dublin route daily except Thursdays this winter using a combination of A319 and A320 equipment. Lufthansa carried a record 377,000 passengers in and out of Dublin Airport last year, which was an increase of just over five per cent on 2013.

Demand statistics show that about three-quarters of Dublin’s Lufthansa passengers connect at the airline’s Munich and Frankfurt hubs. Last year the most popular onward destinations for Dublin originating passengers on Lufthansa’s flights included Moscow, Sofia, Tel Aviv, Kiev, Belgrade, Lagos, Shenyang, Tokyo, Beijing, Larnaca and St Petersburg.