Teenage pilot to land in Dubai during round-world flight record attempt

A teenage pilot is set to land in Dubai during his world-record attempt to become the youngest person to fly around the globe solo in a small plane.

Mack Rutherford, a 16-year-old British-Belgian pilot, received his pilot's licence in 2020, making him the youngest pilot in the world at age 15.

On March 23, he took off from Bulgaria to begin his journey around the world in an ultralight plane, weighing only 325 kilograms and flying at speeds of 299 kilometres per hour.

So far, he has flown to South Africa, Congo, Madagascar, Mauritius, Italy, Greece, Sudan and Kenya. He will fly over Oman next and then make a brief stop in the UAE.

He is due to land, weather permitting, at Dubai International Airport at 10am on Thursday, June 2.

Mack was born into a family of aviators and has been inspired by them. His father Sam is a professional ferry pilot, while his mother Beatrice and sister Zara are private pilots.

In January 2022, Zara became the youngest woman to circumnavigate the globe solo.

The 19-year-old returned to the Belgian town of Kortrijk on January 21, a little more than five months after she set off on August 18, 2021.

Now Mack wants to add to his family’s achievements, and also meet and inspire people during his journey.

According to the Guinness World Records, the youngest person (in both male and female categories) to circumnavigate by aircraft, solo, is Travis Ludlow.

He was 18 when he completed his solo flight in 2021 to earn the record.

“There are many people of my age who do amazing things. Often few people know about them,” Mack said.

“I am really looking forward to meeting some of them. Together we can show that young people make a difference.”

After the UAE, he will head east to Kazakhstan and across Russia. He will then cross the Bering Strait into Alaska and continue along the west coast of America to Mexico.

Mack will then head north again along the east coast to Canada, before crossing the Atlantic and stopping in Iceland and the UK. His epic journey is due to finish in Bulgaria's capital Sofia.

Mack's mission can be tracked online on his website.

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.”

Fireball

Moscow claimed it hit the largest military fuel storage facility in Ukraine, triggering a huge fireball at the site.

A plume of black smoke rose from a fuel storage facility in the village of Kalynivka outside Kyiv on Friday after Russia said it had destroyed the military site with Kalibr cruise missiles.

"On the evening of March 24, Kalibr high-precision sea-based cruise missiles attacked a fuel base in the village of Kalynivka near Kyiv," the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukraine confirmed the strike, saying the village some 40 kilometres south-west of Kyiv was targeted.

If you go

The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.