Global Aviation and the Gulf

This chapter provides an empirical case study of one of the areas in which the Gulf States have been the most visible and dynamic generators of global change. The startling rise of Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways has reshaped global aviation markets around the three hubs of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha, as the Gulf airlines have developed into what the Economist magazine has labelled ‘global super-connectors’ capable of connecting any two points in the world with one stopover in the Gulf.1 This culminated in the January 2015 announcement that Dubai International Airport had overtaken London’s Heathrow Airport to become the world’s busiest airport for international passengers. Significantly, the 6 per cent annual rise in Dubai’s international passengers (to almost 70 million in 2014) contrasted with the far smaller rate of increase caused by Heathrow operating at near-peak capacity owing to space and regulatory constraints. Moreover, Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways have benefited further from the relative absence of political or legal constraints compared with European and North American ‘legacy carriers’ in addition to the ‘state capitalist’ development models described in Chapter Three.2