The booming Gulf region aviation sector threatens to be held back by air traffic congestion, Iata warns.
The aviation trade body called for urgent cooperation between countries in the Middle East to avoid air traffic “gridlock”.
Airlines in the Middle East are expected to contribute a record $2.2 billion to the airline industry’s expected global profit of $18.7 billion this year.
Driven by the high speed growth of airlines in the Gulf, the region’s share of global traffic increased from 4% to 9% in just over a decade, according to Iata.
Iata director general and chief executive Tony Tyler, speaking in Abu Dhabi, said: “Aviation in the Gulf is a great success story and air traffic gridlock should not become its Achilles’ heel.
“Airspace is finite, so capacity can only grow with efficiency. Each country has invested in impressive technology. But effective management needs regional and international teamwork.
“The players in the region urgently need to buy into a vision for seamless airspace management in the region and then work together in a team effort to make it happen.”
He warned that airspace congestion is a “real and rising” problem which grows with each new aircraft that is delivered.
“Unless it is dealt with expeditiously, the efficient hub operations which are supporting the region’s success will begin to unravel,” Tyler added.
“Learn from the mistakes of Europe. The single aviation market created enormous demand for air connectivity. But this was not matched with a single European sky.
“The result is an inefficient and fragmented air traffic management system that is a burden on European competitiveness.”
Iata wants to see increased use of the 40%-60% of airspace in the region reserved for military use.
“We are trying to squeeze the fast-growing civil aviation component into a fraction of the airspace,” said Tyler. “One solution is to develop partnerships and trust with the military to open more flexible use zones. That is happening progressively, but it is not keeping pace with demand for air travel.”
He also called on fragmented air navigation service providers in the Middle East to work together to provide a seamless service.