The first powered flight in the Middle East took place in 1909, when Baron Pierre de Caters of Belgium and Louis Blériot of France flew over Istanbul (now Constantinople) in Turkey. The first airline in the region, Egyptair, debuted in 1932, with Turkish Airlines following in 1933 and Saudi Arabian Airlines in 1945. The region became a transit hub for flights connecting Africa, Asia and Europe, often serving as fuel stops for long journeys spanning continents. When air travel in the Middle East truly began to take off, however, it showed the same type of explosive growth that marked other infrastructure development in the region