With Qatar soon to host the FIFA World Cup, the big three Middle Eastern hubs, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, are all angling to take advantage of the anticipated traffic to the region.
But while sporting events attract attention with a short-term burst of new flights, what are the underlying trends, and has recovery from the pandemic brought about any substantial changes to the networks at these airports?
Dubai Leads Recovery
Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have all seen a fair recovery in comparison to their 2019 seat capacity.
Dubai, the largest airport of the three, has just edged out Doha to have the highest level of recovery of the three airports in September 2022, operating at 86% of 2019 capacity levels with 3.9 million seats; Doha is at 85% of 2019 capacity with 1.9 million seats, while Abu Dhabi has recovered to 77% of its September 2019 capacity, with a much more modest 0.9 million seats.
However, when it comes to the number of destinations served by their networks, all three…
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