Air Arabia is still waiting for approvals to fly to India from Ras Al Khaimah following the closure of RAK Airways, which had operated to the country until last year.
But that is not stopping the region's biggest low-cost carrier from expanding elsewhere in south Asia. Air Arabia said it would fly three times per week to Chittagong in Bangladesh from next month.
Air Arabia started flying from the northernmost emirate in May after RAK Airways, the emirate’s flag carrier, ceased operations six months earlier. The new hub is its second in the UAE and the fourth worldwide.
“We are still waiting. Every week we write to them and they say wait for a few days,” said Mohammed Qazi, RAK Airport’s chief executive. “We hope to get the approvals very soon, as it affects people in the Northern Emirates.”
In the meantime, the carrier is looking at other regional destinations to add new routes.
“Chittagong is a tried and tested route by RAK Airways. We are very happy to operate this route again by Air Arabia,” said Mr Qazi.
“We are looking at the moment at Nepal and Qatar,” Mr Qazi added, referring to popular routes that were previously operated by RAK Airways.
Air Arabia currently offers direct services to Jeddah, Cairo, Muscat, Islamabad, Lahore, Peshawar and Dhaka from its RAK hub.
Last month, the airport revised down passenger forecasts this year. Currently, it expects to handle 250,000 passengers, compared to the 400,000 passengers that it previously anticipated.
Air Arabia second-quarter profit jumped 128 per cent amid cost- cutting and higher passenger numbers. Net income increased to Dh173 million in the three months ending June 30, compared with Dh76m a year earlier. Turnover increased 15 per cent to Dh915m in the second quarter versus Dh797m last year.
The airline served more than 1.6 million passengers in the second quarter, an increase of 8 per cent compared with the 1.5 million passengers carried a year earlier.
“We are still waiting for the India authorities to fly to the country from RAK,” said an Air Arabia spokesman. “We will start by flying to Calicut and we hope to grow to other cities.”
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MATCH INFO
West Ham United 2 (Antonio 73', Ogbonna 90 5')
Tottenham Hotspur 3 (Son 36', Moura 42', Kane 49')
Another way to earn air miles
In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.
An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.
“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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Expo details
Expo 2020 Dubai will be the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia
The world fair will run for six months from October 20, 2020 to April 10, 2021.
It is expected to attract 25 million visits
Some 70 per cent visitors are projected to come from outside the UAE, the largest proportion of international visitors in the 167-year history of World Expos.
More than 30,000 volunteers are required for Expo 2020
The site covers a total of 4.38 sqkm, including a 2 sqkm gated area
It is located adjacent to Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai South
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