Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has commenced non-stop flights from its home base in Abu Dhabi to Tokyo, becoming the first Middle Eastern airline to operate to the Japanese capital.

Bahrain is aiming to become the transcontinental aviation hub of the Gulf and Middle East region in the next few years, it was declared recently. This would happen with more and more flights from the US beginning services to Bahrain and using the Bahrain International Airport for its operations, Bahrain Airport Company (BAC) chief executive officer Dr Osama Al Ali said.