Etihad Airways signed its first code-sharing agreement with a Chinese airline and started flights yesterday to one of China's biggest cities, strengthening its presence in the world's second-biggest economy.
Hainan Airlines will place its "HU" code on Etihad Airways flights between Abu Dhabi and Etihad's three gateway cities in China - Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai.
The deal will extend to Etihad flights beyond Abu Dhabi to Sudan's Khartoum International Airport.
Subject to regulatory approvals, the arrangement will start from January 10.
"Working with a major player like Hainan Airlines will increase Chinese passenger numbers on our China-Abu Dhabi services and beyond to popular destinations in Africa, Middle East and Europe," said James Hogan, Etihad's chief executive. "We look forward to expanding the relationship to include more destinations over time."
The deal will extend to both airlines' loyalty programmes, enabling passengers to earn miles on each other's flights.
It is Etihad's 35th code-sharing pact with a global airline and follows a similar deal signed in February with Air New Zealand.
Etihad has also expanded its global coverage this year with a strategic alliance with Virgin Blue of Australia, which opened up 44 more destinations to Etihad customers.
In another move that increases Etihad's presence in China, the airline yesterday started flights to Chengdu in south-west China. The capital of Sichuan province will be served by four non-stop, return services per week.
It will be the first direct flight link between the UAE and the Chinese province.
"The new services will open convenient new gateways for travel to and from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and stimulate growth of trade between the Emirates and China, already the UAE's third-largest trading partner," said Mr Hogan.
Forecast demand from the passenger and cargo sector was strong and the airline expected to go daily when it was commercially viable, he said. The airline will operate a two-class Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the route.
While Etihad has been carving out a bigger slice of the fast-emerging Chinese market this week, Emirates Airline is expanding its foothold in Europe.
The airline said yesterday it was launching a fourth A380 service from March 25 to London Heathrow.
The new flight will mean Emirates becomes by far the largest A380 operator to use Heathrow, with four of the double-decker aircraft to serve the airport daily.
It announced last month it was starting a third daily A380 service from January 24.
"This demonstrates the beauty of the A380 - its ability to increase our service to our passengers in style, and without adding traffic to London Heathrow's busy schedule," the airline 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.”
