Middle East Aviation Market

Which Middle Eastern Country Has Most Airline Capacity?

• The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the largest markets, with 7.7m and 6.9m seats respectively.
• Capacity in Saudi Arabia grew by 9.5% this month vs May 2024, adding 599,100 seats, whilst in UAE it grew by 6.6%, with 478,000 additional seats.
• Within the Top 10, capacity grew at the fastest rate in Israel. It increased by 52.3% vs May 2024 with 395,900 additional seats. This reflects an increase in demand, pent up through the conflict, and the return of foreign carriers particularly LCCs.
• Capacity continued to decline in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq, by 11.7% and 10.4% respectively vs last year.
  

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Which is the biggest Middle Eastern airline?

• Emirates remains the largest airline in the region, with the network carrier handling 3.3m seats, which is an increase of 4% vs May 2024.
• Within the Top 10 carriers in the Middle East, Saudia added the most seats, increasing by 228,100 seats. Flyadeal and Etihad Airways also increased capacity by more than 180,100 seats and 188,000 seats each.
• Percentage wise, the largest increases in capacity were introduced by IndiGo and flyadeal, increasing by 24% and 22% respectively vs May 2024.
• Qatar was the only airline to reduce capacity, taking 43,000 seats out of the market which is a decrease of 2% vs last year.