Falcons and their owners at the flydubai business class check-in at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2. The birds were on their way to Azerbaijan, where there was much more prey and where the Azeris were eager to learn the art of falconry from the Emiratis. Photo by Frank Kane
Falcons and their owners at the flydubai business class check-in at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2. The birds were on their way to Azerbaijan, where there was much more prey and where the AzShow more

Falcons on a plane: Birds get business class treatment with flydubai



Last week Dubai sent a top level delegation to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, to further develop trade and financial relations with the Caspian country.

On Sunday night, at Dubai International Airport’s Terminal 2, I witnessed first-hand evidence of the strong relationship between the two countries.

I was dropping off my wife and daughter for a visit to Baku (my wife’s hometown). They were queuing to check in for the overnight “red eye” when my daughter suddenly burst out: “Look daddy, falcons”.

A keen ornithologist and regular poser for the falcon-on-arm pics, she knows her birds of prey, and she was dead right: there, at the flydubai business class check-in, were at least half a dozen birds – some in travel cages, some on the arms of their handlers, some sitting patiently while waiting in line.

It was one of those Dubai moments when you think: “It could only happen here”.

I had a quick chat with one of the bird’s owners, who told me they were going to fly the birds in Azerbaijan, where there was much more prey and where the Azeris were eager to learn the art of falconry from the world recognised experts, the Emiratis.

Once on the plane, I was informed in a series of excited calls from my daughter on the tarmac that the birds and their owners had taken over the business class section, and were obviously seasoned flyers (which makes sense: they are birds, after all). They were quieter and better behaved than some of the passengers in economy, my wife told me.

But flying live birds in the cabin of a modern aircraft? Surely that was against the rules?

Not at all, it turns out. Flydubai informs me that the only livestock allowed inside the cabin of their planes are crustaceans, fish and some reptiles. “And falcons of course,” the airline’s spokeswoman explained. “As you know, they are very special birds.”

So special, in fact, that they must have their own seat, on which a special cloth is spread for the duration of the flight to avoid accidents. Think falcon mid-air turn-down.

On this particular flight, the owners had booked out the entire business class cabin, which I guess was obligatory. Imagine settling in for your flight to Baku, trying to prepare for the day’s meetings there, and finding a falcon in the seat next to you. Disconcerting.

In fact, travelling falcons are a pretty regular occurrence on flydubai routes. “We treat them the same way we would VIP passengers and frequent flyers. Once an entire plane was chartered to take some birds to Bahrain,” the airline’s spokeswoman told me.

Do they get air miles? Use the airport lounges? Shop in duty free? Get bumped up to first class? Is there room for a whole new category of air travel – falcon class? The mind boggles.

fkane@thenational.ae

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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.

Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
 
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
 
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia

Results:

First Test: New Zealand 30 British & Irish Lions 15

Second Test: New Zealand 21 British & Irish Lions 24

Third Test: New Zealand 15 British & Irish Lions 15

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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday

Second leg

Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm

Game is on BeIN Sports

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.”

MATCH INFO

Sheffield United 0 Wolves 2 (Jimenez 3', Saiss 6)

Man of the Match Romain Saiss (Wolves)

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5