Budget day rains on Emirates' parade

ONE MORE THING:UAE airline Emirates is revving its engines furiously for the take-off of its Dublin to Dubai route on January 9th.

The full-frills carrier has branded pretty much everything that moves in this town of late to generate publicity for the route, which will offer onward connections to Asia and Australia.

Its plans for a major knees-up in Dublin next month have had to be altered. Emirates originally booked the Convention Centre Dublin for a launch party on December 6th.

That was before Minister for Finance Michael Noonan scheduled the budget for that day.

While a party on budget day might be just the tonic to lift the spirits of the great and good of the capital after yet more austerity, it wouldn’t have garnered much publicity for Emirates.

Fortunately, the convention centre was able to accommodate a revised booking for December 13th, and about 800 guests are expected for the Emirates bash.

In the meantime, Emirates will be hoping Noonan’s package of tax rises won’t suppress consumer demand even more.

Every cloud has a silver lining, of course.

The recession has swelled the ranks of emigrants leaving for the Middle East and Australia in search of work.