Middle East’s Biggest Airlines by Flight Volume — September Edition
The pandemic continues to shuffle the ranking of the Middle East’s biggest airlines. That’s why we —once again— looked at the number of flights and present the most up-to-date ranking of the Middle East’s biggest airlines.
However, this time we took a different approach. Instead of analyzing the past month’s figures, we provide you with a forecast. We looked at September traffic so far and analyzed schedules. As a result, here’s the September forecast of airline flight volumes and the corresponding benchmark.
Middle East’s Biggest Airlines
Summary & Highlights
Qatar Airways Remains Middle East’s Biggest Airline
Similar to the previous ranking, Qatar Airways remains the biggest airline in the Middle East. Based on current forecasts, Qatar Airways is likely to operate 14,000 flights in September. Accordingly, QR will operate roughly 500 flights more than Saudi on the second rank.
Four Airlines from the United Arab Emirates
The UAE continues to be an essential aviation market in the Middle East. Accordingly, the country adds four airlines to the ranking — more than any other country. However, the flight volume of Emirates, Flydubai, Air Arabia, and Etihad is still far away from pre-COVID figures.
Emirates Will —Again— Operate less than 10,000 Flights
Due to its business model, Emirates has been hit massively by the pandemic. As a result, Emirates’ flight volume will continue to be far away from pre-COVID figures. Moreover, Emirates will again operate less than 10,000 flights.
| Rank | IATA | Airline | Forecast Flight Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QR | Qatar Airways | 14,000 |
| 2 | SV | Saudi Arabian Airlines | 13,500 |
| 3 | EK | Emirates | 8,900 |
| 4 | FZ | Flydubai | 4,600 |
| 5 | XY | Flynas | 3,900 |
| 6 | G9 | Air Arabia | 3,800 |
| 7 | EY | Etihad | 3,400 |
| 8 | GF | Gulf Air | 2,400 |
| 9 | KU | Kuwait Airways | 1,500 |
| 10 | WY | Oman Air | 1,300 |
Data Source
The shown ranking and contained data are based on the latest FlightFacts data. FlightFacts is a free-to-use mobile app that lets you discover the operational performance of airlines in real-time. For more information about FlightFacts click here or visit our download page. FlightsFacts is available for Android and Apple mobiles.
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