China a must destination for Arab airliners: expert

Establishing new destinations in emerging markets such as China is not a special feature for airliners, but a must in order to stay competitive, said Toby Stokes, Partner and aviation expert at consultancy Ernst and Young.

"I think there is definitely a business case for increasing flights between Gulf Arab countries and China as there is an increase in trade between the two parties," Stokes said.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the six Gulf Arab GCC states Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman will be China's top trading partners by the year of 2020.

Speaking at the two-day conference Aviation Outlook Middle East and North Africa (Mena) which kicked off on Tuesday, Stokes noted that Dubai's state-owned Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways from Abu Dhabi and Qatar Airways have constantly increased their network into China. Etihad established the direct route between Abu Dhabi to Shanghai on March 1. Since April 2008, Etihad has been flying directly to Beijing.

In order to lure Chinese travelers likewise to the UAE, Dubai- based Emirates launched already in 2008 its website in Mandarin language. Qatar Airways started to fly to Chongqing in November 2011 as the airline's fifth destination in China.

Arab airliners, however, do not ride on the "Go East" trend alone: "British Airways and Iberia from Spain, amongst other airlines, have also said that they will focus more on Asia."

Referring to Chongqing in southwest China, Stokes said that carriers, once solely focusing on destinations on the east coast, cannot afford to overlook emerging cities in the inner mainland. " Chongqing has 30 million people, and the city has a rising middle class, people who want to fly to the world directly without stop- overs."