Airbus’s A350 jet landed at the company’s Toulouse base in southern France Wednesday night to end 14 months of trials that pave the way for the new model’s certification and first delivery later this year.
The flight from Helsinki completed a three-week, four-stage tour with one of five test planes visiting 14 destinations including Johannesburg, Sydney, Santiago, Doha and Moscow.
Airbus crews were at the controls, assisted by so-called airworthiness pilots from the European Aviation Safety Agency (Easa).
The trials and supporting documentation should ensure certification of Airbus' answer to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner within weeks, clearing the way for the first delivery in the fourth quarter to Qatar Airways, the A350's largest customer with 80 on order. The next challenge for the European manufacturer involves accelerating production from a handful of prototypes to output of 10 widebody planes a month by 2018.
“It’s a milestone that means we can retire the technical risk,” said SG Securities analyst Zafar Khan, who has a “buy” rating on Airbus stock. “The issue going forward is on industrialisation of the ramp-up, which is challenging, because you’re no longer building for a test programme, but to sell — and therefore to have a targeted cost for actual assembly.”
The first A350-900 will carry 315 passengers with a range of 7,750 nautical miles. A later variant, the A350-1000, will enter service in 2017, seating 369 people.
Airbus, which spent in excess of €11 billion developing the twin-engine A350, has promised investors the programme will be profitable before the end of the decade. The company last year made a provision of more than €400 million for underestimating the cost of the initial batch, a step that continued a recent history of jetliner cost overruns.
The double-decker A380 suffered glitches with wire installation and wing cracks that appeared after service entry, and should finally turn profitable next year, Airbus has said.
Boeing’s 787 was three years late when it began commercial operations in late 2011. The US manufacturer is also targeting cash-flow break even for the programme in 2015.
Airbus’s A350 programme director, Didier Evrard, said last month at the Farnborough Air Show that the company may seek to raise output to 12 planes a month if it can achieve production enhancements such as faster manufacturing of carbon components.
Fernando Alonso, senior vice president for flight and integration tests, said in an interview that the model’s on-schedule performance in the recent three-week proving tour — during which he was part of a crew which flew Toulouse- Johannesburg-Sydney-Auckland-Santiago-Sao Paulo-Toulouse back-to-back — was a key reliability indicator.
While engineers from Easa raised some questions, “we really didn’t discover anything that we didn’t already know about,” he said.
The next step is to fulfil flight requirements needed to secure the maximum range for extended twin-engine operations, or Etops, which governs how far planes with only two turbines can fly from the nearest diversionary airport and is a key limiting factor for trans-oceanic services.
Over the next two weeks the A350 will perform six or seven more long-range flights over water, Mr Alonso said, initiating power and systems failures to show it can fly for seven hours on one engine. The longest current Etops range of 5-1/2 hours was granted to the Boeing 787-8 variant in May.
Once A350 tests are complete Airbus will focus on the A320neo programme, with the first trials involving a re-engined version of the single-aisle jet planned for September.
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Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make
When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.
“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.
This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).
|
Age
|
$250 a month
|
$500 a month
|
$1,000 a month
|
|
25
|
$640,829
|
$1,281,657
|
$2,563,315
|
|
35
|
$303,219
|
$606,439
|
$1,212,877
|
|
45
|
$131,596
|
$263,191
|
$526,382
|
|
55
|
$44,351
|
$88,702
|
$177,403
|
HAJJAN
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
What is hepatitis?
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, which can lead to fibrosis (scarring), cirrhosis or liver cancer.
There are 5 main hepatitis viruses, referred to as types A, B, C, D and E.
Hepatitis C is mostly transmitted through exposure to infective blood. This can occur through blood transfusions, contaminated injections during medical procedures, and through injecting drugs. Sexual transmission is also possible, but is much less common.
People infected with hepatitis C experience few or no symptoms, meaning they can live with the virus for years without being diagnosed. This delay in treatment can increase the risk of significant liver damage.
There are an estimated 170 million carriers of Hepatitis C around the world.
The virus causes approximately 399,000 fatalities each year worldwide, according to WHO.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
