The president of Boeing believes Turkish Airlines will emerge as a rival to Emirates Airline.
Competition between the pair is likely to heat up further when Istanbul’s new Dh40.45 billion international hub opens next year.
"Turkey is a significant opportunity," Bertrand-Marc Allen, the president of Boeing International, said at the Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi yesterday.
“It has got the capability, the geographic positioning, the population, the culture to be a success and a source of a lot of growth over the next 20 years. It will introduce an interesting dynamic and another competitor in this hub strategy for aviation.”
The rapid growth of Turkish Airlines represents a challenge to the region's big three of Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, which are competing to establish international hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
Turkish plans to invest $3.74bn this year on previously ordered planes to grow its fleet to 261 aircraft.
The carrier’s ambition is also reflected in the growth of its Istanbul base, which is mimicking the expansion of Dubai International Airport as an international hub.
Istanbul Ataturk Airport attracted almost 61.3 million passengers last year, while Dubai drew 78 million. Dubai expects to handle 85 million passengers this year.
With about US$35bn of investments, Istanbul's new airport will have six runways, 500 aircraft parking spots and the capacity to accommodate 150 million passengers.
“I think that Turkey is starting to rival the UAE airline and Turkey is doing very well,” said Mr Allen. “We are keen to watch this develop.”
Other regional hubs are also investing billions of dollars in airport expansion projects.
Qatar opened Hamad International Airport in 2014, while Abu Dhabi International said it would open its Midfield Terminal, a huge facility designed to handle 30 million passengers a year, in 2017.
Emirates this week said it was boosting capacity on its daily service to Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport, while Turkish Airlines announced plans to add two more European routes to Dubrovnik in Croatia and Kosice in Slovakia.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
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World Cup warm-up fixtures
Friday, May 24:
- Pakistan v Afghanistan (Bristol)
- Sri Lanka v South Africa (Cardiff)
Saturday, May 25
- England v Australia (Southampton)
- India v New Zealand (The Oval, London)
Sunday, May 26
- South Africa v West Indies (Bristol)
- Pakistan v Bangladesh (Cardiff)
Monday, May 27
- Australia v Sri Lanka (Southampton)
- England v Afghanistan (The Oval, London)
Tuesday, May 28
- West Indies v New Zealand (Bristol)
- Bangladesh v India (Cardiff)
SQUADS
India
Virat Kohli (captain), Rohit Sharma (vice-captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicketkeeper), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shardul Thakur
New Zealand
Kane Williamson (captain), Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Ross Taylor, Tom Latham (wicketkeeper), Henry Nicholls, Ish Sodhi, George Worker, Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Tim Southee, Adam Milne, Trent Boult
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
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- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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