As the curtain rises on Dubai Airshow 2019, which starts Nov. 17 at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), the certainties of the decadelong aviation boom in the Gulf do not hold as true as they used to.

Emirates airline is not as profitable as it once was, despite a marked uptick in the first half of 2019-20, while Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates’ other major carrier, based in Abu Dhabi, is trying to recover from three straight years of losses in excess of $1 billion. Qatar Airways is frozen out in the region by a boycott that shows no signs of being lifted, something that has marred its own profits in recent years.

Emirates airline saw profits fall 69% to $237 million in the financial year to March 31, though it said first-half income grew this year by 282%. In September, Qatar Airways announced a full-year loss of $639 million, due to the loss of mature routes, higher fuel costs and foreign exchange fluctuations.

Scheduled passenger activity at DWC, designed to take the pressure off a full-to-bursting Dubai International Airport (DXB) — the world’s largest, for international passengers, at 89.1 million, in 2018 — has slowed to a trickle, with total numbers of flights into and out of the airport rarely exceeding 10 movements a day in recent months, although the facility did come in handy during the runway refurbishment that took place on one of DXB’s runways for 45 days in April and May.