Aviation growth in the Middle East - impacts on incumbent players and potential strategic reactions

Our results show that Middle Eastern carriers will soon emerge as serious global competitors to the established carriers. Since there is no sufficient regional demand to fill their capacity, these carriers aim at redirecting international traffic flows from Europe and the Americas to Asia. As a result, major players particularly in Europe and Asia will be directly affected. However, our results also indicate that for some markets Middle Eastern players are unfavourably positioned concerning parameters like flight time and required connection flights.