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The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally disrupted the global aviation industry, with airlines and airports bearing the brunt of the downturn. Limited domestic travel and heavy reliance on international air traffic have had a greater impact on Middle Eastern airlines’ and airports’ business operations than their global counterparts.

Airlines operating in the Middle East are heavily dependent on international traffic flow. This, coupled with the absence of a domestic market in nearly every regional country, means that the region’s airlines are solely dependent on the rate of international traffic recovery. Specifically, the region’s full service global connectors are affected by the uncertainty of when business demand will recover to pre-pandemic levels, in terms of volume and yield. Low-cost airlines in the region, as with their global counterparts, have been faster at adapting to the new market realities, in large part because of their more competitive business models and point-to-point networks.

The region’s airports have also been challenged by border closures and market accessibility. Furthermore, the airports that serve as a hub or as focus cities for regional airlines have seen great decline in passenger volumes. While the Middle East has been successful in both curbing and battling the COVID-19 pandemic, airport recovery is closely tied to regional airline recovery.