Aer Lingus will start flying direct from Dublin to Dubai next March, in the first step towards developing a long haul network outside the US market.
Dermot Mannion, the airline's chief executive, described the route as a "new phase in the development" for the State-owned carrier.
He said new aircraft would not be needed on the service and Aer Lingus could "juggle" its existing fleet of Airbus A330 aircraft. The airline is hopeful the plan will not be blocked by the two main unions at Aer Lingus, Impact and SIPTU.
The company had to abandon a route from Dublin to Orlando in Florida because it could not reach agreement with unions over crew levels.
The journey time on the proposed Dubai route is less than nine and a half hours and the same work practices that apply on most US routes should apply to the Dubai service. Michael Halpenny, a senior SIPTU official, said last night that he welcomed route expansion, but staff were anxious to make sure such expansion happened under existing agreements.
The airline still does not have a "fly anywhere" agreement in place with unions and talks continue at the Labour Relations Commission.
However the route does not start operating until late March so any industrial relations problems are likely to be dealt with in coming weeks. The unions were briefed on the plans yesterday.
The airline has moved quickly to put a non-US long haul route in place - Mr Mannion only took up his post in August - because of concerns that rivals such as Emirates are contemplating a similar service from Dubai.
Gulf Air recently announced a new route between Dublin and Bahrain.
Mr Mannion said the service would operate three times a week and would carry an expected 70,000 passengers a year. He said Dubai, which is in the United Arab Emirates, was recognised as the business centre of the Middle East and it had experienced huge growth in tourism from the Irish market over the last 10 years.
Aer Lingus will now open discussions with other airlines to establish onward connections from Dubai to other cities in the Middle East, Asia and Australia. The flight to Dubai will will start from €199 one-way including taxes, with tickets going on sale from next week.
Dubai could become a hub for the airline in the longer term, but this will not be possible without new aircraft and a fresh injection of capital via a private sale.
The Government has yet to make a formal decision, but a flotation, rather than a private placement of shares with institutions, is regarded as the most likely form of sale. Mr Mannion said yesterday the airline was looking at a privatisation process by September of next year.
He said the airline is studying new destinations in the US, among them San Francisco and Philadelphia. But this is dependent on changes being made to a bi-lateral agreement between the Republic and the US.
