Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and flydubai are majority state-owned – 100% for Etihad and flydubai, 50% for Qatar – and all three have been among the brightest growth stories in a region already noted for its rapid development.

Now the three look set to join the ranks of Middle Eastern airlines that are consistently profitable.

State-owned carriers in the region typically don’t perform well when it comes to their bottom lines. According to IATA, airlines in the Middle East as a group have had just three years of profitability in the last seven.

After airlines across the region reported a combined profit of USD900 million in 2010, regional profitability returned after a four-year absence. The outlook for 2011 and 2012 is strongly positive, even with the impact of the Arab Spring.