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Two Malaysia Airlines A330-900s in Kuala Lumpur.
Could Malaysia be the next aviation mega-hub?
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As travel through the Middle East plummets amid the Iran conflict, airlines and their passengers are looking back towards Southeast Asia to connect Australia and Europe – and Kuala Lumpur could be well-positioned to capitalise on the pivot and become a major connecting hub, as Jake Nelson discovered.
The numbers don’t lie: the major Gulf airports like Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, which, between them, have up until recently handled around 10 per cent of Australia’s external seat traffic, have been hit hard by the Iran crisis. In the latest Airservices report into Australia’s aviation network, capacity between Australia and the Middle East in March this year was found to be an eye-popping 77 per cent lower than in March of 2025, with Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways all being forced to operate on reduced schedules – not fantastic news for Aussie travellers, who for years now have relied on the Gulf as a convenient layover point en route to and from Europe.
“Right now, we are still seeing quite a reduced flight schedule for the Middle Eastern carriers, and other carriers flying to the Middle East,” says Dr Steve Leib, associate professor of aviation at CQUniversity. “The capacity to ensure safe operations is still recovering, and that – particularly for Australians – is quite a big deal, because it’s a major corridor between Australia and Europe that is served by the major three carriers, which is responsible for a large amount of traffic.
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