Budget airline Ryanair is planning to open 18 new routes between Dublin and several European countries from April next year.
The airline is adding destinations in Italy, Spain, France and Portugal to its route list, as well as opening up routes to Eastern European countries such as Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia.
The company is basing five new Boeing 737-800 series aircraft in Dublin, which will cost the company more than $300 million. Ryanair's chief executive, Michael O'Leary, described it as the largest single investment in Irish tourism.
Ryanair also plans to increase the frequency of eight of its routes, with daily flights scheduled to Frankfurt, Faro and Barcelona. Other routes such as Cardiff, Malaga, Carcassonne, Biarritz and Lodz will have more scheduled flights each week.
Ryanair is expecting its passenger numbers in and out of Ireland to grow to more than nine million passengers once the new routes are up and running.