The Middle East's Huge Appetite For Jumbo Jets Is Key For Boeing And Airbus [CHARTS]

The Dubai Air Show kicks off next week, and Reuters is predicting a "$100 billion Boeing order bonanza" by Middle Eastern carriers like Etihad, Emirates, and Qatar Airways.

Why such high expectations for a region that accounts for just 8% of the world's revenue passenger miles?

It's because Middle Eastern airlines are young and growing fast. And unlike other booming regions, they have an appetite for big, expensive aircraft.

In a statement today, Boeing VP of Marketing Randy Tinseth said one key is location:

The Gulf region benefits from a unique geographic position that enables one-stop connectivity between Europe, Africa, Asia and Australasia. Additionally, over the last decade, we've seen a rise in low-cost carriers that have benefitted from a large youthful population, large migrant workforce and trends toward market liberalization.

Boeing predicted that "long-range, twin-aisle airplanes - such as the Boeing 777 and 787 Dreamliner - will continue to dominate the Middle East's order books."

The advantage to selling the wide-body aircraft is clear. In 2013, the most expensive 737 jet ran for $109.9 million. The cheapest 777 cost more than double that ($261.5 million).

So a region that's more interested in wide-bodies than narrow-bodies a major opportunity.

To drive home the importance of the Middle East to both Boeing and its archrival Airbus, we've pulled a few charts from their most recent market outlook reports.

Lets' start with the rate of growth in the region, compared to the rest of the world:

The region isn't on track to be a world leader in traffic, but it's 20-year growth rate is the world's highest:

Now let's look at the Middle East's taste for large aircraft. It's the only market that wants more twin-aisle than single-aisle planes.

Boeing has slightly different numbers from Airbus, but it gets to the same point. In the rest of the world, wide-body planes make up just 24% of orders. In the Middle East, that rate is over 50%.

So as the Dubai show kicks off, get ready to see a lot of big orders for big planes come in.