Middle East conflict underlines the importance of Gulf airlines for Australia and India
The fallout from the latest conflict in Iran highlights how reliant the Australian and Indian markets are on Middle Eastern airlines and airports.
With the war zone spreading across the Middle East since 28-Feb-2026, the large Gulf airlines had to stop most scheduled flights out of their home bases.
This had a huge effect on many markets given the importance of these airlines and hubs to the global air travel network. In the Asia Pacific region, the two markets most affected were Australia and India.
The big Middle Eastern airlines are a major presence in the Australian market - and even more so in India.
For Australia, it's about connectivity. The Gulf hubs - primarily Dubai - are an important linkage between Australia and Europe.
The Gulf hubs draw a lot of connecting traffic from India too, and they also allow airlines to tap into demand from the massive numbers of Indian workers in the Middle East.
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