Aquilina-Spagnol, CliveEllis, DarrenPagliari, Romano2021-01-182021-01-182020-12-04Aquilina-Spagnol C, Ellis D, Pagliari R. (2020) Viewing the Middle East big three (MEB3) carriers as heterogeneous. Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 51, December 2020, pp.323-3322352-1465https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.11.035https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/16187This paper considers the Middle East big three (MEB3) carriers – Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways – from the perspective of heterogeneous strategic decisions and future trajectories. This paper is based on an ongoing doctoral research project covering the topic. The rise of the MEB3 and their growing global impacts have seen the three major carriers very often analysed together, with little scholarly focus on differences and individual airline strategic decision-making. Emirates has typically dominated discussion and analysis, not surprising given its sheer size and global influence, but with Etihad and Qatar simply presented as imitators and followers alongside. Likewise, the ongoing blockade of Qatar by neighbouring countries including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has tended to be viewed as a regional political dispute and not as something likely to fundamentally change the MEB3’s apparent collective strategic goals and aspirations. The strategic analysis underpinning this paper is predicated on events and trends up to the end of 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic became a global challenge. Each of the MEB3 is analysed individually and against a set of core strategic forces and factors in order to identify the extent to which there is homogeneity and heterogeneity in their respective strategic and business propositions. These carriers are also compared with each other; this allows for an evaluation of the strategic path of each airline, as opposed to mere profiling. This strategic analysis de-links each individual airline from the typical group analysis which occurs when the MEB3 acronym is employed and it critically challenges a common analytical approach which tends to perceive each carrier as part of a homogenous bloc. Key insights surrounding strategic differences are arguably as salient as when derived from viewing all three carriers as essentially the same or similar.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 InternationalMiddle East big three (MEB3)major Gulf carriersheterogeneous trajectoriesstrategic industry analysisArticle