Comments on: Low-cost Middle East

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 21:19:27 +0000

Thanks Ahmad. You might get them yet – nobody knows (yet) where Jazeera Airways will choose for their new hub… it could be QAIA! (Makes a lot of sense in the low-cost model, IMHO). You’re not the first person to have mentioned that Jordan was noticeably lacking from this post… I could write a whole sob-story about the shocking waste of an outstanding resource that is KHIA in Aqaba. In fact, I feel another post coming on…

When you’ve taken that FlyDubai flight, come back here and let us know what you thought.

Meantime have you tried airberlin.com – they have regular low-cost flights from Sharm ash-Shaykh (and Tel Aviv, though I’m guessing you’d prefer Sharm) to Berlin and around 15 other cities in Germany…

By: Ahmad Humeid

Ahmad Humeid — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:20:47 +0000

I want cheap flights from Amman to Frankfurt or Berlin! Arrrgh!

Anyway, I think I will try FlyDubai from Amman to Dubai soon.

By: Matthew Teller

Matthew Teller — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:56:38 +0000

Thanks, David. You’re spot on. Unfortunately, there are 3 things standing in the way of low-cost expansion from Europe to the Middle East. First is distance: 737s are about at their limit flying for five hours (the flight time from the UK to the eastern Med/Red Sea). Second, in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon (the places that would benefit most from low-cost expansion) you’re dealing with airports that are either publicly run or very recently privatized: nimble, far-sighted decisions to attract new business do not come naturally. Third, the European low-cost carriers aren’t shy about demanding immense payments to launch new routes: these countries do not have buoyant enough tourism sectors to justify huge payouts upfront… though if they could manage it, I agree it would boost tourism more than just about anything else. Chicken and egg.

By: David Whitley

David Whitley — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:43:04 +0000

Very interesting. For selfish reasons, I love it when a new destination comes on the low-cost radar. I’ve not been to Egypt so far as all the cheap flights go to Sharm/ Hurghada/ Marsa Alam – but if they started to Luxor or Cairo, I’d be on it like a shot.

It’s interesting to see how popular a destination can become once the cheap flights (from Europe) start there. It was Morocco a few years ago, Ukraine and Israel are the newest. If it spreads to the Middle East, tourism there could change immensely.