UAE residents took roughly three flights per person in 2025, a figure Airbus expects to more than double to 6.5 trips per capita by 2045. The projection comes from the aircraft maker's Global Market Forecast report, released on Wednesday, and points to sustained growth in demand for air travel across the region over the next two decades.
For Dubai and the wider UAE, where aviation underpins tourism, trade and the broader economy, the forecast signals continued expansion in both passenger numbers and airline capacity. Airbus vice-president of market analysis and forecasting Antonio Da Costa described the UAE as "a very open economy," a characterisation offered in the context of the country's travel growth outlook.
Regional comparisons
The UAE's growth trajectory outpaces its neighbours in the forecast. Saudi Arabia is expected to see per capita trips rise from 1.6 in 2025 to 4.0 by 2045, while Egypt's figure is projected to move more modestly, from 0.2 to 0.4 trips per capita over the same period.
Gabriel Semelas, Airbus president for Africa and the Middle East, said the region represents "a huge portion" in comments tied to the forecast, underscoring the significance Airbus places on demand growth across these markets.
Fleets expanding to match demand
Airlines based in the UAE and Saudi Arabia have already been adding aircraft this year in what looks like early positioning for that longer-term demand curve.
Emirates has received 11 A350s in 2026, taking its total fleet of that aircraft type to 27. Etihad Airways has taken delivery of two A321s and two A350s during the same year. Saudi carrier Saudia has added seven A320s to its fleet in 2026.
Taken together, the deliveries suggest carriers across the Gulf are building capacity ahead of the passenger growth Airbus is forecasting, rather than waiting for demand to materialise first. For UAE residents, that could mean more route options and more competition among carriers as the decade progresses, though the forecast itself covers a twenty-year horizon rather than immediate changes.
The figures from Airbus's Global Market Forecast do not detail which routes or aircraft types will see the most growth beyond the deliveries already recorded this year. But the scale of the projected increase in trips per capita, more than double over twenty years, points to air travel becoming a still larger part of daily life and economic activity in the UAE than it already is.
Reported by Khaleej Times.
