Qatar Airways Route Network, November 2016: South Asia

Like its Gulf rivals, Qatar Airways has blanketed South Asia with direct service to more than two-dozen cities: seven in Pakistan and thirteen in India. Too many to label here, but like Emirates and Etihad, Qatar acts as a de-facto state carrier not for the Gulf region but for the Indian subcontinent. 

Gulf Air Network, October 2016: The Eastward Routes

Our final post on Gulf Air looks at its flights to South Asia and its few remaining long-haul services to the Pacific Rim, which today consist only of Bangkok and Manila. India and Pakistan are still thoroughly covered. 

Emirates Route Map, August 2016: South Asia

While the Indian subcontinent was not detailed on the worldwide map of Emirates Airline's routes, the region is vital to the megacarrier's strategy and success. The perennial observation of Emirates growth and network, both regionally and globally, is that the airline is not so much a flag-carrier for the UAE or the Gulf region, but for the huge populations of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Dubai itself acts as a major business capital for these economies and a convenient offshore banking, trade and leisure destination for the region's elite. With megacities such as Mumbai, Karachi and Delhi just a few hours away, hardly enough time to serve dinner on the business class deck of an A380, strategy for Emirates, and for Dubai, has paid off, as evidenced by the dearth of non-stop flights between India and North America. 

Pakistan International Airlines: Sialkot to Kuwait, 2008

The signature globes of Kuwait Towers are twinned with an overflowing bunch of footballs in this print advert for "another first for PIA" with once-weekly service from Sialkot to the emirate, barely more than a month after the privately-built Sialkot international airport had opened. Kuwait is one of several Gulf cities that PIA flies to from Sialkot, among them Riyadh, Jeddah, Sharjah and Muscat. Air links between Pakistan and the Gulf are quick substantial, largely due to commercial and financial connections but also the massive flows of migrant workers to the understaffed economies of the region.