Abstract

"Tracing the Global Airline Industry's History in the Middle East"

Fatma Derya Mentes, Duke University (fdm5@duke.edu)

Since the first successful heavier-than-air human flight in 1903, aviation has assumed ever-growing importance in the modern world. It is the enabling medium of global mobility, an object of government regulation and a crucial industry for war and commerce alike. This paper explores the history of the global commercial aviation industry, with a focus on the geopolitical importance of the Middle East in the development of this industry.
From the beginning of the 20th Century, several imperial powers used the region as a “laboratory” to test and develop military and commercial aviation technologies. Right after WWI, Royal Air Forces started to use the Middle East as a training and testing location for new aircraft technologies. The region became a focal point for the implementation and development of airpower as an aerial policing tool. Commercially, with the advent of the commercial aviation industry, the region became an essential refueling and layover point for commercial airplanes flying from Europe to Asia and Africa. Particularly the Arabian Gulf was in such an important position that in the 1920s, Imperial Airways (the forerunner of British Airways) started to purchase imperial air landing rights from various locations, including Sharjah and Bahrain. This paper situates the imperial history of aviation in the region as foundational for the overall development of the contemporary global aviation industry.
Today, the Middle East has become a rapidly growing global commercial air hub, challenging the domination of Western airlines in the industry. Its international airlines, giant airports and massive infrastructure connect to almost anywhere in the world with one-stop. Against the backdrop of the contemporary booming commercial aviation in the region, this paper argues that the history of aviation in the region, particularly in the Arabian Gulf, is an essential lens to understand the current boom of the Middle Eastern carriers.