One-third of the world's population, so the explanation justifying Gulf network carriers goes, lives within four hours of the big three Gulf hubs: the UAE's Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and Qatar's Doha. Two-thirds lives within eight hours, but that last third lives more than 12 hours away in a range difficult for fully-loaded aircraft to serve. But Emirates, as exemplified by its announcement last month to serve Dallas-Ft Worth and Seattle, is trying its best to enter the lucrative United States market despite still needing to build a profile for itself.

The Dallas and Seattle routes will be some of the longest in Emirates network, and will see Emirates serve two more of the top 15 metropolitan areas in the US after New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, as well as two more of the twenty largest international airports in the US. A look at what other destinations rank in this list indicates where Emirates may plant itself next in the US.