The Middle East and budget aviation were writ large last month when the world’s air industry met at the venerable Le Bourget airfield near Paris. The circle of Gulf-based full service carriers (FSCs) from Emirates and Qatar Airways to Etihad committed to important orders for new wide-bodied jets needed to carry out their various long-haul network expansions — and with their large-scale orders delivered equally important good news to brighten the mood among executives and employees of the large plane manufacturing duo, Boeing and Airbus. Right next to the region’s big names and their prominent aspirations to rank higher among the world’s long-haul carriers, the Middle East’s emerging low-cost carriers (LCCs) added a splash to the aviation news circus with sizeable orders and buying plans in their market segment: single-aisle aircraft. Jazeera Air, the new Kuwait-headquartered budget airline, on the first day of the Paris Air Show committed to buying
