Middle East exception to malaise for airlines



Demand for travel on Middle East airlines has outperformed the global sector as more flights are routed through the region.

"The region's carriers have successfully tapped into demand from emerging markets with the strength of their network structures and efficient hubs," said the International Air Transport Association (Iata), whose members include major airlines such as Air France-KLM, British Airways, Delta and Air China.

The Middle East has benefited from a 14.3 per cent increase in demand and a 14.4 per cent growth in capacity, said the Iata statement.

Middle East carriers, including Etihad Airways, Emirates Airline, Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines have been spending heavily on advertising as they carve out a larger market share amid a global decline in the aviation industry.

Turkish Airlines said it planned to increase its passenger headcount from 46 million this year to 90 million by 2020, the chief executive Temel Kotil said in an interview with The National last month. The carrier also plans to increase its destinations as it routes trips from Europe, the United States, Africa and the Middle East through its hub in Istanbul.

Meanwhile, global airlines continue to suffer from a decline in air travel amid a European debt crisis and budget cuts in the United States, where, airlines have reported a modest 1.5 per cent expansion in demand.

There are fears that US carriers could suffer further deep losses as budget cuts force airlines to operate security related services, which were previously managed by the government, increasing their costs.

"There are threats of reduced availability of government-provided services for airport security, border control and air traffic management," the statement said.

In Europe, growth was 2.1 per cent. "While demand was up on the year-ago period, it should be noted that the region's airlines have posted no growth in international markets since October," the industry body said. "The euro-zone crisis may have stabilised, but the region's economies are not growing and its airlines remained burdened by high taxes, onerous regulation and infrastructure constraints."

By contrast, demand in Asia and Africa resulted in an increase of 3 per cent and 9.4 per cent respectively.

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution

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Started: 2020
 
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  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
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  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
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Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten

Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a  month before Reaching the Last Mile.

Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

 

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Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad. 

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