The arrival of United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier Etihad Airways at Washington Dulles International Airport this year has reinforced the facility’s position as the second largest US gateway for passengers from the Middle East, but also enabled it continue its strong growth of recent years. The new daily link from Abu Dhabi was launched on March 31, 2013 and follows the introduction of a new Doha service from the US capital by United Airlines in May 2012 (as an extension of its existing Dubai operation), the introduction of a Dubai link by Emirates Airline in September last year and Saudia boosting frequencies on its existing route from Jeddah, also from March this year.

According to analysis from the airport’s parent Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, weekly scheduled seats between Washington Dulles and the Middle East have increased 59.2 per cent over the past two years, up from 8,731 in May 2011 to 13,901 this year. This firmly positions the airport as the fastest growing US gateway to the Middle East with the other top four US airports reporting much shallower growth during the same period or even capacity declines.

The data shows Los Angeles International reported a 10.8 per cent rise, Newark Liberty International an 8.7 growth and Chicago O’Hare International saw available seats rise 8.1 per cent. The largest US gateway to/from the Middle East, New York John F Kennedy (JFK) International saw its capacity reduce 5.6 per cent due to the closure of Delta’s route to Amman and a reduction in capacity by El Al to Tel Aviv.

This means that Washington Dulles’ share of the capacity between the US gateways and the Middle East rose from 12.7 per cent in May 2011 to 18.4 per cent in May 2013, although it is still notably less than New York JFK International which has a 35.5 per cent share, albeit down from 41.2 per cent two years earlier. In total capacity between the US and the Middle East has grown 9.8 per cent during the two year period.

The addition of Abu Dhabi to its network means that Washington now has direct services to seven of the eleven largest O&D markets in the Middle East from the US city, the exceptions being Tel Aviv, Amman, Tehran and Beirut. Washington Dulles has the third largest O&D demand between the US and the Middle East after New York and Los Angeles with over 380,000 passengers travelling in and out of the Middle East in 2012.

In the table below we highlight the top 10 Washington – Middle East O&D markets and how this compares with some other major US gateways.

Official traffic data shows 42.2 million passengers travelled through Washington’s airport system in 2012. Included in the total were a record-breaking 19.7 million passengers at Reagan National and 6.7 million international passengers at Dulles International. “Dulles continues to lead the way as the region’s premier international gateway,” Airports Authority president and chief executive officer, Jack Potter said at the time.

International passenger travel grew by two per cent at Dulles, the ninth consecutive year of growth since 2003. New service to Dulles in 2012 added more than 70 international flights per week and included new airlines Porter Airlines, Aeromexico and Emirates Airline, serving Toronto, Mexico City and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, respectively. Existing carriers launched or boosted service to Doha, Qatar; Manchester, England; Dublin; El Salvador; Panama; and Grand Cayman.