The Rise of the Gulf Airports

The rise of the Gulf airports
A threat for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol?
Abstract
The airports of Abu Dhabi, Doha and Dubai, together referred to as the ‘Gulf airports’, will have a combined capacity of 340 million passengers by 2020. Consequently, they are trying to redirect the traditional traffic flows east tot west. This research focused on the possible influence of the Gulf airports on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. The findings show that the Gulf airports have a good competitive position on the transfer market to and from Southeast Asia and Oceania, but not to Northern and East Asia. They pose no immediate threat, however, Schiphol and the main Dutch airline KLM will have to continue their cooperation in order to minimize this upcoming competition and to ensure a sustainable position of Schiphol as one of the most important hub airport on the transfer market.

Keywords: Hub competition, Gulf airports, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Gulf region
Table of contents

1. Introduction
After the deregulation of the European aviation market in the period 1992-1997, airlines gained the freedom to adept their strategies to market demand and to reorganize themselves spatially. As the hub-and-spoke network structure was perceived to add value on both the demand and cost side, it consequently became the dominant choice of network structure (Gillen & Morrison, 2005). Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands is the fourth largest airport of Europe, and the main hub of KLM Royal Dutch airline. Airline hubs are essentially airports where passengers change airplanes to reach their final destination (Derudder et al., 2007). By directing multiple flights through a hub, airlines can service more destinations while operating more cost-effectively. Schiphol airport has reached the position of the fourth largest airport in Europe, because it is a hub airport. Without its hub operations, Schiphol would lose its status as one of Europe’s largest and most important

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