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A poll conducted by Air Cargo Middle East & India on European carrier giants has shown that the Middle East is still viewed as a strong market for growth, amid uncertain times for the global industry.

All those polled emphasised that the Middle East would always feature highly on their agendas, with the general theme being one of regional consolidation.

Luxembourg-based Cargolux referred to the "exponential growth foreseen in the Middle East for the next ten years," adding that the region's geographical locations would reflect positively on the network, providing the opportunity for adding more frequencies and destinations.

Among the issues highlighted by the carriers was the cost savings made by the use of the burgeoning sea-air freight sector, which generally uses facilities in the United Arab Emirates to transfer shipping freight onto cargo aircrafts for onward despatch onto Western destinations.

While there is a heavy accent on airfreight being shipped through the Gulf Cooperation Council states, it is also clear that other regional countries have seen an upsurge in activity, with no indication from the European giants that this is set to wane in the future.

Fears that operational difficulties largely assumed to be preeminent in the Middle East region appear, largely, not to have surfaced.

The concern that heat might be a barrier to efficiency-particularly with regard to take-off and weight restrictions-does not seem to ring true, and it is certainly the case that other locations, such as Africa, some parts of South-East Asia, Latin America and the southern states of the United States, also suffer from this problem.

The heat disadvantage can certainly be outweighed by scheduling take-offs at around midnight, when ground temperatures can be as much as 10 degrees Celsius or more below midday levels.

Setbacks associated with road infrastructure have been negated by the fact that the bigger carriers operate out of a number of airports in the region, thus reducing pressure on the road network.

With some European giants operating out of as many as three airports in the United Arab Emirates alone, the lack of a need to rely on transportation via roads-and the potential headache of cross-border transits and their associated formalities-is generally providing faster solutions for the consumer.

Furthermore, the ability of operators to interline some freight when faced with insufficient road infrastructure has also alleviated this difficulty. Even so, the roads, which are generally viewed as being in good condition, are seen as gradually improving, thus allowing carriers to be confident about the network in the future.

In the middle of the last century, the Middle East was a necessary stopover point for aircraft unable to travel direct to the Far East.

However, the region has since become a crucial hub in its own right, with carriers from Europe now taking the shorter route over Siberia in order to reach those Asian destinations non-stop.

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