Honestly, one great advantage it had was a good airport (and at least two other major hubs nearby for cheap transit flights with virtually no layover (e.g: ther

Honestly, one great advantage it had was a good airport (and at least two other major hubs nearby for cheap transit flights with virtually no layover (e.g: there were ~25 flights a day to Doha at some point)) I made some great trips from Dubai - in Berlin now, every trip is a choice between crappy layovers or expensive airlines. There have been a few surprising exceptions (finnair being one)