Turkish Airlines moves on the Gulf

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Few dispute that Qatar Airways’ expansion rate since launching in 1994 has been exceptional. Its 125-aircraft fleet now serves 130 destinations across the globe, with an average of one new route being launched every month. Orders for another $50 billion worth of aircraft will ensure growth for years to come.

Together with Dubai’s Emirates and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad, Doha’s flag carrier has brought the Middle East to the forefront of global aviation. But the big three Gulf airlines are not the only players seeking to re-align traffic away from legacy hubs in western Europe. Turkish Airlines (THY) is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with, and it is echoing many of the strategies successfully deployed in Qatar and the UAE...

Qatar ready for take off

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When the New Doha International Airport (NDIA) opens its doors on 12 December 2012, the Gulf's youngest aviation hub will be able to handle 12.5 million passengers per year – more than eight times the current population of Doha. By the time it is completed in 2015, the 5,400 acre site will be almost two-thirds the size of the capital.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al Baker, who also heads up the development of NDIA, admitted last month that the project would come in more expensive than planned. His latest estimate pegs it at $17.5 billion (QR64 billion), and few will be surprised if costs rise further.

But for Qatar, which has allocated 40 percent of its budget between now and 2016 to infrastructure projects, this is undoubtedly a price worth paying. The tiny Gulf emirate places aviation at the heart of its economic growth plans – matching commitments by the governments of Abu Dhabi and Dubai – and NDIA will be the centrepiece of Doha's strategic vision to become one of the busiest transit hubs in the world...

Qatar's diplomatic act

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In April 2011, Syrian state media reported that Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, had sent a letter to Damascus pledging his support against "the conspiracy targeting its security and stability". Just one year on, and the same government mouthpiece now accuses Qatar of masterminding that conspiracy. Such is the nature of international diplomacy.

Qatar's new perspective of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad could not be clearer – Sheikh Hamad closed the Qatari embassy in Damascus last July, and by February 2012 was openly calling for the arming of Syrian rebels. What is less apparent, though, is how this hawkish approach fits in with Qatar's self-styled reputation for being a regional peacemaker...

The future of biofuels

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Talk to an airline executive anywhere in the world today, and you're virtually guaranteed to hear the same fundamental complaint. With Brent Crude prices hovering around $110 per barrel – up 350% in the space of two years – it's now all but impossible to make money from the business of flying people around.

Of course airlines have several tricks up their sleeves. Hedging fuel contracts is one strategy, albeit a risky one if you misjudge the market. Cutting operational costs and hiking airfares are two others. Perhaps the most pragmatic approach is to fork out a few billion dollars for some next-generation, fuel-efficient jets. In the current financial climate, though, few have that option.

The inconvenient reality is that aviation is well and truly addicted to oil. In order to get a 650-tonne Airbus A380 off the ground, the high energy density required makes anything short of the black stuff a feeble substitute. And that means, in contrast to electric cars, battery-powered planes will never make their commercial debut in our lifetimes...