More than 280 million passengers flew through the main airports across the GCC and Iran in 2015. Some of the largest international airports across the region have also been registering double-digit growths in terms of passenger traffic in recent years. Even air cargo volumes have been growing at a steady pace.

In addition to airport modernisation and expansion programmes to accommodate rising demand, some of the region’s cities have launched airport city masterplans to encourage people not only to fly into and out of airports, but also to work and and live within their proximity.

In Iran, the Imam Khomeini Airport City (Ikac) has started to mobilise consultants. Last week, the Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC) unveiled plans to develop a new city at Seeb, near Muscat International airport. Saudi Arabia has also announced plans to set up free zones around its two largest airports – Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International and Riyadh’s King Khalid International.

Iran’s Ikac is a long-term development project and will feature cargo facilities, a free zone, and residential communities on a 140 million-square-kilometre area. Jeddah’s airport free zones are part of its national transformation project.

The free zone incentive aims to attract foreign investors by making it easier for them to set up and operate without bureaucratic hurdles.

It also signals the urgency from the region’s governments to diversify their economies, with the decline in oil price having exposed their vulnerabilities.  

While these measures, along with the airport privatisation plans in states such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, could and should have been started earlier, it nevertheless reflects the willingness of the region’s policymakers to adjust their strategies to achieve long-term economic stability.

Developing industries around the aviation and logistics sectors, both of which require intensive investments in information technology (IT) and innovation, could also encourage the development of start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), creating employment for the region’s young population.

Including the Levant, the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is expected to require more than 2,000 aircraft over the next 20 years. Considering the average aeroplane replacement cycle, the number of active aircraft across the region is expected to reach about 3,000 – three times the current number – by 2034.

If the Mena region were to follow the Western trend, where the operation of a single widebody aircraft can generate 300 direct and 500 indirect jobs, and assuming that widebody aircraft will comprise half of the region’s active fleet by 2034, then the sector alone could potentially create close up to 1 million jobs within two decades.

In addition, the aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) sector is a highly technical discipline that would encourage research and development, and technology transfer from multinational to local companies. Needless to say, the aviation sector could generate well-paying jobs that will feed into these states’ individual GDPs.

Given the region’s geographic location, with more than 2 billion consumers within a four-hour flight, developing sustainable and well-planned airport cities could prove a very sensible long-term strategy.