A few other points. If the purchase of new a/c by the middle eastern airlines is funded by cash, the airlines don't have to worry about lease or interest costs (assuming the purse string holder doesn't actually care about profits). That's run a savings of $10-16m a year on an A380 before capital costs/depreciation is even factored in.

Not sure if ME airlines don't pay market price for fuel or not but that argument may be a red herring. They can only get that fuel advantage one way. They still have to pay full price from wherever they're flying back from. The price of jet A in the U.S. is also distorted by the fact refining profits (crack spread - cost of refining) are high. Due to environmental regulations, I understand there are only a handful of refineries (18?) in N. America and none built in the past 2 decades or are being built. That's why each time a refinery closes for seasonal changes in gas formulation, maintenace, overhaul, or blowing up, the price of fuel rises.