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IATA said that the further strong gains seen by Middle East carriers were driven by 'solid regional economic growth and some gains in share on long-haul markets'. At the other end of the scale, carriers in North America and Europe saw demand increase by 2.1% and 3.1%, respectively, and Middle East carriers have been keen to take advantage of the struggles that these regions have faced.
To cope with the downturn, some airlines in Europe cut their capacity by up to 20%, which gave a number of Arab airlines the opportunity to add capacity and capture additional traffic rather than have their traffic decline, said Abdul Wahab Teffaha, Secretary General of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation.
'Arab airlines were able to increase their market share tremendously, and that's why they concluded the year with double digit growth,' Teffaha told AMEInfo.com, adding that he expects these carriers to continue to perform well in 2010.
'With the slow return to the growth of the economies of the world, there will be a strengthening of the yield and therefore a better bottom line for these airlines. On the traffic side, I believe the increase will also be in the double digits,' he predicted.
Etihad, Emirates, Qatar add routes
Most of the capacity increase in the region is being led by the 'big three' - Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways - which are competing with European and Asian carriers for the lucrative long-haul market.
The big carriers are also keen to add routes where they see gaps that present opportunities for growth. Already this year Emirates has announced that it will be launching new, non-stop service to Tokyo on March 28, which will be followed by the start of services to Amsterdam on May 1, Prague on July 1, and Madrid on August 1.
The carrier has also launched a lobbying campaign in Canada aimed at convincing transport authorities to allow it to add more flights to the North American nation. Emirates wants to increase the number of its flights between Dubai and Toronto from three times a week to as much as twice a day, as well as adding daily service to and from Vancouver and Calgary.
Meanwhile, Etihad Airways launched operations to Japan in February with the launch of its Nagoya-Abu Dhabi service. The airline will initially fly four times a week to Nagoya, via Beijing, increasing to five flights a week from March 29, operating two-class Airbus A330 aircraft on the route. Another service from Abu Dhabi to Tokyo will also be launched on March 27, the carrier said.
Etihad has also secured seven additional weekly flight frequencies from its Abu Dhabi home-base to Australia. The seven flights can be operated to any gateway in Australia including the carrier's current destinations of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
The carrier has also said that it will raise capacity by close to 60% on its Manchester services from June, upgrading its current two-class A330-200 aircraft to a two-class B777-300. The capacity increase will mean an additional 2,100 seats per week on the route. Etihad, currently operates seven return services per week between Manchester and Abu Dhabi.
Qatar Airways has also announced that it will launch flights to Tokyo beginning in April, along with new service to Copenhagen on March 30, Ankara on April 5, Barcelona on June 7 and Sydney at a date to be confirmed.
Jeff Florian, Senior Reporter
