Flight Friday: Gulf Giants Emirates, Qatar Dominate 2025 Air Hours

With less than two months before Dubai Airshow 2025 opens, this week’s Flight Friday examines the top 10 Gulf carriers from a flight-hours perspective.

Among the top 10, Emirates and Qatar Airways command nearly equal shares, together accounting for almost 50% of flight hours in 2025 to date. Emirates operates a slightly larger, all-widebody fleet, while Qatar Airways incorporates narrowbody aircraft, which constitute approximately 15% of its fleet.

Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) ranks third with 12% of the top 10’s flight hours in 2025 to date, followed closely by Etihad Airways at 10%. Flydubai completes the top five with an 8% share, while the remaining five carriers collectively represent 20% of flight hours.

With more than 1,300 aircraft on order for these 10 operators, Gulf carriers are positioned to renew and expand their fleets and market share. Additionally, with Riyadh Air’s orderbook exceeding 100 aircraft, the region may soon welcome a new entrant to this elite group.

This data was put together using Aviation Week’s Tracked Aircraft Utilization database.