In recent years, the connections offered between the Middle East and Europe on low-cost carriers (LCCs) have expanded significantly. This March, Wizz Air starts a Jeddah–London Gatwick route, a seven-hour flight on its Airbus A321XLR. The airline also plans to start an Abu Dhabi–Milan route in June.

Other key players in the space are Flydubai and FlyNas, complemented by Air Arabia and Jazeera. These airlines are all growing rapidly with large fleet order books as they capitalize on the growing tourism demand between the two regions.

Most notably Saudi Arabia has been expanding its aviation infrastructure and tourism offer, so more direct routes to Europe can certainly be expected. The routes are medium haul, between five hours (to Eastern Europe) to seven hours (to the north and west of Europe), and made possible by the latest A321XLR and B737 Max aircraft with extended range.

Main Destinations in Europe

Eastern European airports are therefore benefitingmost from this trend, as the chart below shows, with Bucharest, Warsaw, Belgrade, Krakow and Budapest all having 15 or more weekly departures in this market, followed by Sofia in Bulgaria with 14. Vienna is also an important player, having several weekly departures on Air Arabia to Sharjah, and Wizz Air to Abu Dhabi.

In addition to the Eastern European capital city airports, other secondary/tourism airports have also seen a new potential market. Airports like Marseille, Salzburg, Catania, Basel, and Naples now all have various weekly flights directly to Middle East hubs like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, or Jeddah.

Furthermore, there are seasonal routes, not shown in the chart below to, for example, Bergamo, Olbia, Pisa, Corfu, and Dubrovnik.

Leading Airlines Driving the Market

Flydubai is by far the largest airline in this space, with 18 year-round destinations and over 140 weekly departures plus a number of seasonal routes. The UAEcarrier is followed by Wizz Air with over 50 weekly departures, operating from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Jeddah.

Air Arabia offers its flights from Sharjah while Flynas has a range of routes on a thrice-weekly basis from both Jeddah and Riyadh to cities like Berlin, Brussels, and Marseille.

All these airlines have significant fleet expansion plans, with Flydubai adding 12 aircraft this year and deciding on a 200+ aircraft order in the short term. The Flynas fleet is planned to grow from 61 aircraft today to 160 by 2030. Wizz Air has a fleet of more than 200 aircraft nowadays and plans to have 500 by 2032.

Future Opportunities Await

The growth of Middle Eastern LCCs targeting European routes is a particular opportunity for mid-sized and tourist airports in Europe, helping them attract new passengers, boost tourism, and diversify their airline mix.

With the projected fleet growth of the airlines involved, it can be expected that their networks in Europe will only be further enlarged. Additionally, with the latest longer-range narrow-body aircraft available, destinations can be expanded towards the northwest.

More inbound tourists from the Middle East, particularly from Gulf countries, are therefore expected. Cities with cultural attractions, medical tourism, and luxury shopping—such as Vienna, Prague, Nice and Geneva—will benefit from direct access to Middle Eastern travelers.

In addition, outbound tourism from Europe will be stimulated, with destinations in places like Saudi Arabia now competing with the Mediterranean when price levels of air tickets are more in line. And after conquering Europe, it is likely that the focus of the Middle Eastern LCCs will shift to developing markets like India and Africa.