Middle East Aviation Market

Which is the biggest airline in the Middle East? Where is the busiest airport in the region? Which countries have the most airline capacity and how is this split between low-cost and mainline carriers? All of these questions and more are answered in our monthly Middle East aviation data analysis and commentary. Data is sourced from OAG's Schedules Analyser; a cutting-edge platform for airline schedule analysis. 

In The middle East this month there are 39,280,311  scheduled airline seats, +8.46% year-on-year 

• Airline capacity across the Middle East is expected to increase by 8.5% in December 2025 vs the same month last year to 39.3m seats.
• International capacity, which represents 88.5% of the market, grew by 10% vs December 2024, adding 3.1m seats to reach a total of 34.8m.
• Domestic capacity represents 11.5% of the market and contracted by 1.8% vs December 2024.
  

*As of July 2025, international capacity is reported on a two-way basis (previously one-way departing).

How is Capacity Split between Low-Cost and Mainline in the Middle East?

• LCCs account for 28% of capacity in the Middle East this month, growing by 12.6% vs December 2024.
• Mainline carriers account for the remaining 72% of the capacity in the market and grew by 6.9% vs last year to 28.3m seats.
  

*As of July 2025, international capacity is reported on a two-way basis (previously one-way departing).

Which is the Busiest Airport in the Middle East?

• Dubai (DXB) remains the region's largest airport again this month, with the hub handling 5.5m seats. Doha is the next largest airport with 2.9m seats.
• Tel Aviv shows the fastest growth among the Top 10 this month, with seat capacity up 65.8% - an increase of 404,500 compared to December 2024.
• Sharjah and Riyadh also experienced double-digit increases of 17.3% and 14.7% respectively.
  
  
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