A regional fascination: Americans make no attempt to restrain their fascination with the Middle East, perhaps because their interest is piqued every time the price of petrol goes up at the gas-station pump. 
It’s a region that many Yanks believe is marked by out-sized appetites and out-sized spending. The region’s airlines do little to dispel this, and news that a Saudi prince, Alwaleed bin Talal, had become the first customer for the executive version of the Airbus A380, the Flying Palace, grabbed attention. The prince, who is major and active shareholder in North American banks and hotels, will spend about $325 million on the plane - and that doesn’t include the none-too-shabby furnishings he’ll doubtless install. Some Airbus interior suggestions are at left.
And when other 
Middle Eastern airlines, particularly from the oil-rich Gulf States, revealed major purchases at the Dubai Air Show, as they do at most every air show, the US press bit. Emirates took the biggest chunk of the $86-billion buying spree, and US commentators, wondering why an airline could be spending big at a time when carriers back home were cutting back, were fascinated. You can hear an example of their curiosity here, where the widely listened-to public radio show Marketplace talks to a friend of yours and to an expert about the Emirates purchase.
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