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 35.1M scheduled airline seats, +6.3% year-on-year 

• Capacity across the Middle East is expected to increase by 6.3% in Feb 26 vs last year, to 35.1m seats.
• International capacity, which represents 88.2% of the market, grew by 6.3% vs Feb 25, 1.8m additional seats to 31m seats.
• Domestic capacity represents 11.8% of the market and grew by 6.5%  vs Feb 25.

*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 29% of capacity in the Middle East this month, growing by 11.6% vs Feb 25.
• Mainline carriers account for the remaining 71% of market capacity, growing by 4.3% vs last year to 25m 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 this month, with the hub handling 4.9m seats.
• Jeddah has overtaken Doha to become the second busiest airport with 2.8m seats, an increase of 8.7% vs last year.
• Tel Aviv continues to be the airport with the fastest growth in capacity, up 32.3%, which is 218,500 more seats than last February.
• Riyadh and Sharjah also experienced double-digit increases of 15.6% and 14.7% respectively. 273,400 seats were added in Riyadh vs last year.
• READY TO VIEW: The World's Busiest Airports of 2025