Aer Lingus will offer nine new European routes out of Dublin from March and May next year. Services to Berlin, Venice, Bilbao, Valencia, Lyon and Zurich will start at end-March, while services to Dubrovnik, Warsaw and Copenhagen start at end-May.

Aer Lingus said one-way fares for Berlin, Lyon, Zurich and Copenhagen would start from €75. Fares for Bilbao, Valencia, Venice and Warsaw would start at €85. Dubrovnik will be the most expensive, starting at €115.

This brings to 28 the new routes announced by Aer Lingus in the last two years. The recent announcement that Airbus will supply a new short-haul fleet will help the airline to service the routes, said the firm.

Chief operations officer Mr Seamus Kearney said: "All the new routes have resulted from greater efficiencies in utilisation of aircraft and staff resources."

Ryanair does not serve any new Aer Lingus routes out of Dublin, although it does serve Venice and Berlin out of London Stansted. Aer Lingus says Irish holidaymakers will increasingly visit eastern Europe due to lower prices there. But it said there was also considerable inbound traffic from these "emerging markets".