ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the market environment for low-cost carriers (LCCs) in the Middle East. It discusses the main political, economic and socio-demographic factors of the different Middle Eastern countries. There follows an assessment of the aviation industry in this region. The chapter portrays the status quo of the low-cost airline industry. The future growth of Middle Eastern LCCs is dependent and corresponds to a rather slow but continuing process of liberalization and deregulation of the air transport sector in the region. In 2000, the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC) launched a series of step by step liberalization initiatives with the aim of creating a Common Arab Aviation Market. Many airlines and related services are still state controlled by government agencies and there is an obvious gap between the declarations of intent of international organizations such as the ACAC and the Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) and the implementation of related policies by the different states.
