Middle East low cost carriers set to grow market share in changing aviation market - Arabianbusiness

Middle East low cost carriers set to grow market share in changing aviation market - Arabianbusiness:

Middle East-based low cost carriers (LCCs) saw a 9.3 percent increase in seat capacity in 2019, increasing their share of total seats from 14.9 percent in 2018 to 16.5 percent in 2019, according to statistics from CAPA Centre for Aviation released ahead of April’s Arabian Travel Market.

Over the course of the next 12 months, LCCs are expected to further chip away at the market share of their larger rivals.

Saudia low-cost subsidiary Flyadeal, for example, became the region’s largest airline by seats in 2019, recording a capacity growth of 78.1 percent, according to CAPA.

“Situated within eight hours of two-third of the world’s population and located between the major cities of Europe in the northwest, the fast-developing East African cities in the west and India and Pakistan in the east, the Middle East is the ideal location to set up a budget airline, attracting passenger traffic from within the region as well as from across much of the eastern hemisphere,” said Danielle Curtis, Arabian Travel Market’s MidEast exhibition director.