Emirates plans to add more flights to Africa and Europe while reducing capacity to some destinations in response to demand and to minimise the impact of a 45-day runway closure at Dubai International Airport.
The Dubai-based carrier will change its schedule starting in April and continue to take an "agile" approach to deploying aircraft throughout the year, Emirates said in a statement on Saturday. It will cut capacity to Perth and adjust its services in South America.
"The changes we are implementing to our network schedules in 2019 are in line with this approach, taking into consideration global market dynamics and operational limitations including the maintenance work on Dubai Airport’s southern runway," Tim Clark, Emirates' president, said. "Through the year, we will continue to keep a close watch on global markets and will maintain our flexibility to optimise the usage of our aircraft assets.”
The network changes come after Emirates warned the second half of its financial year through March-end will be "tough" when the airline reported an 86 per cent plunge in first-half profits in November. An increase in oil prices in 2018 from three-year lows inflated its jet fuel bill while the dollar strengthened, competition became stiffer and geopolitical instability continued.
Still, Emirates is tapping into opportunities for growth.
As part of network changes, it is adding more flights to five destinations in Africa from June to meet increased demand in these markets, it said. Emirates will increase capacity to Casablanca in Morocco, Abuja in Nigeria, Accra in Ghana, and the capitals of Guinea and Senegal.
Last month Emirates said it expanded an existing codeshare with South African Airlines in an agreement that would open up new destinations for both airlines' customers.
In the peak travel season leading up to and during the summer schedule, Emirates will increase flights to three European destinations and resume service to Zagreb in Croatia. Athens, Rome and Stokholm will see increased capacity.
To meet seasonal increase in demand to the US east coast, Emirates will deploy its flagship A380 to Boston between June 1 and September 30 and between December 1 and January 31 2020.
_____________
Read more:
Middle East airlines expecting more turbulence in 2019 remain optimistic on strong travel demand
Middle East bucks trend of flat global cargo volumes, IATA says
_______________
It will deploy its double-decker to Glasgow for the first time between April 16 and May 31 that will replace the double daily Boeing 777 service during the Dubai Airport runway closure. From June 1 until September 30, Emirates will resume operating a double-daily service to Glasgow with one daily Boeing 777-300ER and one Airbus A380, offering additional capacity to meet increased travel demand during the summer season.
Emirates plans to reduce capacity on its service to Perth, a route currently operated with both Airbus A380 and a Boeing 777 jets, by operating only the double-decker once daily starting March 31. It will suspend flights between Bangkok and Sydney from June 1 and will continue serving Sydney non-stop three times daily.
The carrier will also scrap first-class service on its daily flights to Rio de Janeiro and offer instead its refurbished two-class Boeing 777-200LR from June 1.
Emirates will suspend its linked flight from Dubai to Santiago via Sao Paulo. However, it will continue to serve the Chilean capital via Rio de Janeiro and will serve Sao Paulo daily non-stop with an A380.
Emirates will cut the number of flights it operates by a quarter and ground up to 48 planes during the closure of Dubai airport's southern runway for 45 days starting April 16. The airline will cancel some flights, reschedule others and change the operating aircraft during the runway repairs.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.”
Results
2.15pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,950m
Winner: Hello, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Ali Rashid Al Raihi (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,800m
Winner: Right Flank, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,000m
Winner: Leading Spirit, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
3.45pm: Jebel Ali Mile Group 3 Dh575,000 1,600m
Winner: Chiefdom, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,400m
Winner: Ode To Autumn, Patrick Cosgrave, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Shadwell Farm Conditions Dh125,000 1,200m
Winner: Last Surprise, James Doyle, Simon Crisford.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,200m
Winner: Daltrey, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihi.
