Etihad Airways is preparing for a boost in travel demand to and from Abu Dhabi following the government’s announcement to remove the quarantine requirement for all vaccinated travellers arriving from overseas, the airline said.
Abu Dhabi will remove the need to quarantine on arrival for vaccinated travellers from September 5.
“The news is perfectly timed to begin welcoming the world back to Abu Dhabi,” Tony Douglas, group chief executive of Etihad Aviation Group, said.
The news is perfectly timed to begin welcoming the world back to Abu Dhabi
Tony Douglas,
group chief executive, Etihad Aviation Group
“We expect a huge surge in demand from tourists and visiting friends and relatives from around the world. This will also give UAE residents greater flexibility and peace of mind when travelling globally.”
Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Committee said all travellers, vaccinated and unvaccinated, must present a negative PCR test within 48 hours of departure.
While vaccinated travellers do not need to quarantine, those travelling from green list countries must take a PCR test on arrival and another test on day six if staying in the emirate.
Vaccinated travellers arriving from other destinations – not on the green list – must take a PCR test on arrival, and have further tests on days four and eight if staying in the emirate.
The committee said unvaccinated travellers, including those exempt from vaccination, arriving in Abu Dhabi from green list destinations must take a PCR test on arrival, without the need to quarantine, and take PCR tests on days six and nine.
When arriving from other destinations, unvaccinated travellers must take a PCR test on arrival, quarantine for 10 days and take another PCR test on day nine.
“The emirate has delivered one of the world’s best public health programmes … with an extremely high vaccination rate and smart technologically-driven solutions such as the Al Hosn app to ensure the safety of residents and visitors,” Mr Douglas said.
He added the government’s decision will help as the UAE prepares to host Expo 2020, the Formula 1 Grand Prix and more global events over the coming months.
The state-owned airline halved its operating loss in the first six months of 2021 as it reduced costs and expanded its network and cargo business.
The airline’s cargo revenue jumped 56 per cent year-on-year in the first half of 2021 to $800 million as it carried 365.5 tonnes of freight, an increase of 44 per cent from the same period a year ago, the carrier said.
The airline, which is executing a five-year turnaround plan, slashed operating costs by 27 per cent year-on-year to $1.4 billion. Reduced capacity and volume-related expenses helped to cut operating costs, it said. Fixed overheads fell by 22 per cent year-on-year to $300m, while finance costs were down 22 per cent due to “an ongoing balance sheet deleveraging”, Etihad Airways said.
Passenger traffic fell by 66.6 per cent due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The airline carried one million passengers in the January to June period, fewer than the three million passengers it carried in the first half of 2020.
Passenger revenue fell by 68 per cent year-on-year to $300m as a result of new coronavirus variants affecting key travel markets on the Indian subcontinent and in Europe, the airline said.
Etihad, which currently operates to 65 passenger destinations, requires all passengers to show a negative PCR test before boarding.
In February 2021, Etihad became the first airline in the world to have 100 per cent of operating pilots and cabin crew on board vaccinated to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, the company said.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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