Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, carried 44,000 passengers on its Dublin-Abu Dhabi route since launching the service last July and is targeting up to 90,000 passengers in 2008. The airline also confirmed yesterday that it is negotiations with the GAA to become a sponsor of the All-Ireland Hurling Championships.

Etihad, which will become the only long-haul carrier to fly east out of Dublin airport when Aer Lingus ends its Dubai route this summer, is attempting to build recognition for its service, which will operate daily flights to Abu Dhabi from Dublin from March. It already operates six flights a week using a 200-seat aircraft.

The airline's chief executive James Hogan and other senior management are in Dublin in a bid to boost the number of business class (pearl zone) passengers it carries.

Load factors, or the proportion of seats filled on each flight, have averaged at more than 80 per cent on its Dublin-Abu Dhabi route, but the economy class (coral zone) load factor has been higher, at around 90 per cent.

The airline, which flies to 45 destinations from the UAE capital, will fly to Beijing from the end of March and will add a second daily flight to Sydney by the end of 2008. The Dublin-Abu Dhabi route has been popular with backpackers and people visiting friends and family in Australia, according to Mr Hogan. Its fares are "competitive", he said, but he added that there was a premium to a service that only requires one connection. "It is quite unique that a national carrier doesn't fly in one direction out of its country," he said yesterday.

Aer Lingus has said it would consider reinstating the Dubai route for its winter schedule.

Etihad carried a total of 4.6 million passengers last year, compared to 2.8 million in 2006.