In less than a decade, a new set of global carriers and destinations has begun to redraw the map of international travel. Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Riyadh Air and American Airlines are quietly building overlapping long haul networks that funnel ever more passengers through a handful of hyper-efficient hubs.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia’s tourism megaprojects, a resurgent United Kingdom hotel market and a wave of Asian hospitality investment are changing where those passengers ultimately sleep, spend and stay.

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Gulf and Asian Supercarriers Tighten Their Grip on Long Haul Travel

The world’s long haul traffic is increasingly dominated by a small club of superconnectors. Emirates in Dubai, Qatar Airways in Doha, Singapore Airlines at Changi and the upstart Riyadh Air in Saudi Arabia are expanding fleets, frequencies and premium cabins in a way that is subtly rewriting how travelers move between continents. Their strategies share common DNA: using geographic advantage, huge aircraft orders and highly rated hubs to intermediate journeys that once flowed more directly between Europe and North America or Asia and Australia.

Qatar Airways closed 2024 and entered 2025 with record passenger flows through Hamad International Airport, which handled 52.7 million passengers last year, a 15 percent jump on 2023. Aircraft movements and cargo volumes also rose by double digits, and the airport’s network expanded to 197 destinations served by 55 airlines. The carrier itself continues to add new cities such as Hamburg and to upgauge and increase services to established markets from Bangkok to Barcelona and Miami, reinforcing Doha’s role as one of the world’s most connected hubs.

Emirates is making quieter but equally strategic moves. The Dubai carrier has focused less on headline route announcements and more on optimizing yield and cabin mix, including a sweeping retrofit of existing jets and a high profile overhaul of onboard dining. Its recent decision to remove engineered plant based meat substitutes from its vegan menus and focus on whole ingredients is a telling detail in a broader push to differentiate the onboard experience as long haul competition intensifies.

Singapore Airlines, for its part, has leaned into its reputation for service and its Changi hub’s efficiency, consolidating its position on trunk routes linking Southeast Asia with Europe, North America and Australia. Together with Emirates and Qatar Airways, it now forms a triangle of connectivity that shapes much of the traffic between the Global North and fast growing markets in South and Southeast Asia, often at the expense of traditional European flag carriers.

American Airlines and Riyadh Air Signal a New Transatlantic and Middle East Dynamic

Across the Atlantic, American Airlines is repositioning itself within this emerging ecosystem rather than competing head on with the Gulf carriers. Its partnerships and alliance ties, particularly across oneworld, allow American to tap Gulf and Asian hubs for feed while it concentrates on its core strengths across North and South America and the North Atlantic. Additional narrowbody and widebody orders, along with an emphasis on premium cabin refurbishment, underline its intention to remain a key player in long haul corporate and leisure travel even as flows become more dispersed.

The arrival of Riyadh Air, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, adds another layer to this shifting picture. Still in its early development phase, the airline is being built explicitly as a global connector based in the Saudi capital rather than a traditional local flag carrier. Its planned route map is designed around linking North America, Europe, Asia and Africa via Riyadh, complementing but also competing with the more established hubs in Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Riyadh Air’s strategy dovetails with Saudi Arabia’s broader tourism and investment ambitions. The carrier is expected to serve as both a gateway to the kingdom’s new leisure destinations and a transfer machine for passengers with no intention of leaving the airport. If it succeeds in drawing even a small share of flows currently funneled through Doha or Dubai, the balance of power in the Gulf’s aviation market could tilt, especially on routes into Europe and Asia.

The combined effect of these moves by American, Riyadh Air and the established superconnectors is a more multipolar long haul market. Rather than defaulting to a small set of European hubs, travelers between cities as varied as Dallas, Delhi, São Paulo, Singapore, Hamburg and Jeddah are being nudged onto itineraries that pass through a growing constellation of Middle Eastern and Asian gateways.

Saudi Arabia’s Tourism Push Powers a Hotel and Leisure Construction Wave

Nowhere is the real world impact of these new aviation patterns more visible than in Saudi Arabia itself. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 program, the kingdom is investing hundreds of billions of dollars to reinvent itself as a tourism destination and leisure economy. Aside from headline projects such as Neom, which has recently seen timelines and budgets reviewed, the most immediate changes are concentrated along the Red Sea coast and around Riyadh.

On the Red Sea, a cluster of ultra luxury resorts has opened over the past year, managed by brands such as Six Senses, St Regis and Ritz Carlton. Dozens more are due by 2030, as the government controlled developer Red Sea Global pushes ahead with plans for some 50 resorts and more than a thousand residences. Authorities say they intend to cap visitor numbers at around one million a year to protect fragile marine ecosystems, a rare example of hard limits in a region better known for scale.

Near Riyadh, the long envisioned Qiddiya entertainment city marked a concrete milestone earlier this month with the public opening of Six Flags Qiddiya City, a billion dollar theme park featuring what is billed as the world’s tallest, longest and fastest roller coaster. The park is the first major component of a broader sports and entertainment district that could eventually include a Formula 1 circuit, golf courses, hotels and performance venues.

These developments are already feeding a domestic tourism boom and slowly drawing international visitors, a trend global airlines are keen to exploit. Qatar Airways has moved aggressively to increase its footprint in Saudi Arabia, adding a thirteenth destination with new services to Hail and resuming flights to Abha, while also connecting the nascent Red Sea airport to more than 170 global destinations through Doha. Other carriers are watching closely as hotel keys open and visa policies gradually liberalize.

Doha and Dubai Lead a New Era of Hub Competition

As these Saudi projects come online, the region’s established hubs are racing to cement their dominance. Hamad International Airport in Doha recently reported record annual passenger numbers, cargo volumes and aircraft movements, and has been recognized as the most connected airport in the Middle East by industry bodies. It now handles more than four million passengers a month and has grown its network to nearly 200 destinations, reinforcing its role as a crossroads between East and West.

The airport’s operator and Qatar Airways have used this momentum to attract new airlines from Asia and Europe and to deepen frequencies on key corporate and leisure routes. Traffic to China surged by almost 90 percent last year, while flows from emerging Asian markets such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam also grew strongly. At the same time, local point to point traffic in and out of Doha is rising faster than transfer traffic, reflecting Qatar’s own push to position itself as a tourism and business destination rather than merely a transit stop.

Dubai International and its second airport at Al Maktoum, supported by Emirates and flydubai, remain the region’s largest combined gateway. While Dubai has not matched Doha’s recent growth rates, it still handles more international passengers overall and continues to benefit from the city’s status as a global business, finance and leisure hub. Emirates’ focus on high capacity widebodies and an extensive network of secondary European and Asian cities ensures that Dubai stays central to many itineraries that now bypass traditional European hubs.

The competition between Doha and Dubai is increasingly about quality and connectivity rather than simple volume. Both hubs are showcasing high end retail, wellness facilities, and faster, cleaner transfer experiences as ways to lock in loyalty. As Riyadh Air scales up and Abu Dhabi continues to court carriers and passengers through its new terminal, travelers can expect more choice, but also more journeys that involve at least one Gulf stop.

London and the UK Rebound as Hotel Investors Return

While the Gulf builds new hubs and resorts, the United Kingdom’s hotel sector is quietly entering a new phase. After a mixed performance at the start of 2025, with flat or slightly negative revenue per available room in some segments, the second half of the year delivered a marked rebound. Industry data for the third quarter show revenue and profitability turning positive year on year across both London and the regions, as forward bookings strengthened.

London’s upper midscale and upscale properties led occupancy growth, with rates climbing above 90 percent in the third quarter and revenue per available room rising almost 5 percent compared with the previous year. Select service hotels and regional upper upscale properties also reported healthy gains in both room and total revenue per available room, helped by improving demand from meetings, events and inbound tourism.

This operational turnaround has been matched by a sharp shift in investor sentiment. A recent survey of hotel executives conducted by a major consulting firm found that hotels are now considered the most attractive real estate asset class in Europe, and that London has reclaimed the top spot as the continent’s preferred city for hotel investment. A majority of respondents expect London’s room revenue to grow between 4 and 7 percent in 2024, with more than half forecasting positive profit growth despite lingering cost pressures from wages and energy.

The renewed appetite for UK hotel assets reflects several factors: a return of international visitors helped by expanded long haul connectivity, resilient domestic leisure demand, and the city’s role as a global finance and culture capital. Gulf and Asian carriers have been important enablers here, with Qatar Airways, Emirates and others adding capacity into London’s airports and routing more travelers through to British cities beyond the capital.

Asia’s Hotel Markets Move From Recovery to Expansion

Across the Asia Pacific region, hotel markets that spent the past three years clawing back lost occupancy are now shifting decisively into expansion mode. New figures from global real estate firm JLL show that hotel investment volume in Asia Pacific reached 4.7 billion dollars in the first half of 2025, and the firm expects transaction volumes to climb to nearly 12.8 billion dollars for the full year. That would represent roughly a 5 percent increase on 2024, signaling growing confidence that the sector has moved beyond the recovery phase.

Operational performance backs up this view. Tokyo has recorded occupancies above 80 percent, only slightly below pre pandemic levels, while achieving significantly higher average daily rates than in 2019. Singapore has maintained stable occupancy compared with last year while sustaining room rates well above pre pandemic benchmarks, even if they have eased slightly from 2023 peaks. Sydney hotels are also operating at close to 80 percent occupancy, and Bangkok properties have managed to lift room rates above previous highs despite a modest dip in international arrivals earlier this year.

These trends are being driven by a mix of returning long haul tourists, a resurgence in regional travel and the gradual normalization of business and events. Airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and Emirates have aggressively restored capacity into these markets, often surpassing 2019 frequencies on key routes. As they do so, hotel investors are targeting both core gateway cities and emerging leisure destinations, betting that Asia’s growing middle class and increased air connectivity will support sustained demand for rooms and resorts.

The result is a pipeline of new openings and refurbishments that is particularly visible in cities with strong aviation links, from Singapore’s Changi corridor to Tokyo’s airport districts and Bangkok’s riverside. Investors are tilting toward upscale and luxury properties, but there is also renewed interest in select service hotels that can capture cost conscious regional travelers, a segment likely to grow as low cost and full service carriers alike ramp up intraregional routes.

How Network Strategies and Hotel Investment Are Reshaping Traveler Choices

Taken together, the moves by Emirates, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Riyadh Air and American Airlines, and the parallel surges in hotel investment in Saudi Arabia, the UK and Asia, are altering not just aviation maps but on the ground experiences. Where a traveler chooses to connect, and where they choose to spend the night, are increasingly determined by a tight interplay between airline network design and hotel developers’ confidence.

A decade ago, a traveler from New York to Bangkok or São Paulo to Tokyo might have defaulted to a European hub and a legacy European carrier. Today, that same journey is more likely to involve a Gulf or Asian hub and a night in a Middle Eastern or Asian hotel financed on the assumption of high, sustained long haul volumes. Meanwhile, London’s resurgent hotel market underscores how traditional gateways can still thrive if they adapt to new patterns of demand and leverage their role as global cities rather than relying solely on historic flag carrier networks.

For destinations, the lesson is clear. Those that align infrastructure, visa policy, aviation partnerships and a coherent hotel investment strategy stand to capture a disproportionate share of the growth in global travel. Saudi Arabia, despite questions over the scale and pace of its megaprojects, has already shown how quickly a determined government can put itself on the tourism map when backed by a national airline strategy and deep capital. In Asia, cities that blend connectivity with livability and distinctive experiences are pulling ahead.

For travelers, the changes are more subtle but just as real. A wider choice of routings, cabin products and stopover options, coupled with a new generation of hotels from the Red Sea to the Thames and the Chao Phraya, is creating a more varied, if sometimes more complex, global travel landscape. The way the world moves is being rewritten not with fanfare but flight by flight, room by room.