Airlines in Mideast look beyond their region (International New York Times Asia)

December 2, 2013

There is little doubting the ambitions of the giant Middle Eastern airlines, but recent large plane orders demonstrated just how aggressively these carriers plan to compete in coming years.

The three airlines — Emirates, Etihad Airlines and Qatar Airways — all based in a small area, already operate more wide-body airplanes than all the American carriers put together. But last week, at the Dubai Airshow, they announced plans to buy 350 more long-range planes from Boeing and Airbus, with orders valued at a record $162 billion and deliveries extending well into the next decade.

See the full article here >>

Tags: Emirates, Etihad, fast growing, Gulf airlines, Qatar