Again, you people are showing your ignorance.... Pilgrimage to Mecca is done by charters during the Hadj season it's not a year around event. Dubai is a good connecting point but it has a huge O+D traffic. It has a great tourism and business economy. Visit http://www.dubaitourism.ae/ if you want to get rid of your "the world is USA" bias. BAHA Not a fan of the citizens of "most powerful nation on earth" knowing a thing or two about the earth herself. :) -----Original Message----- From: The Airline List [mailto:AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris Wallace Sent: Monday, November 21, 2005 8:01 PM To: AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: SFGate: Emirates Airlines to Buy 42 Boeing 777s I'm sure a lot of those connections are for pilgrimages to Mecca. It's why I think a lot of these SW Asian countries buy so many large A/C....it's a guaranteed market. Chris LGA >Subject: Re: SFGate: Emirates Airlines to Buy 42 Boeing 777s >Many of the people flying Emirates are using Bahrain as a connection point.