It may only be March, but 2019 is already turning into a very good year for Capt Abdulla Obaid.
First, he was tasked with flying the Pope home from Abu Dhabi, then he ferried the first Flame of Hope torch to leave Washington for the Special Olympics Games to the UAE capital.
Although no stranger to flying VIPs — previous passengers have included royalty and the Manchester City Football Club squad — Capt Obaid's special missions have been piling up since he flew Pope Francis back to Rome following his first Mass in the region last month.
“Recently, after you guys started putting me in the newspaper, I have been given a few,” says Capt Obaid, 45, an Emirati, from Abu Dhabi.
But it could have all been so different. Capt Obaid was by no means destined to become a pilot. His father had hoped he would join the military, like four of his older brothers had.
He even enrolled him in a military school from fifth grade onwards. But Capt Obaid was never entirely convinced by the option, and once he graduated from high school he attended university for a while before deciding to become a pilot.
At the time, Abu Dhabi had shares in Gulf Air so he trained with the airline before being offered the opportunity to join Emirates.
“At that time you hardly saw civil pilots from the UAE,” he says.
“The day I saw Etihad started in Abu Dhabi I was happy because it is the national airline and it’s home. So I called them as soon as they started and they said we only fly Airbus, and I only fly Boeing.”
But a year later, he finally had his chance after Etihad bought its first Boeing plane.
“I was contacted by them and I joined. I was batch one, the first batch of pilots to join Etihad’s Boeing fleet,” he says.
At that time, Etihad only around 10 Emirati pilots, most of whom joined from Gulf Air. And the airline was very different.
“There were no fancy buildings. It was all wooden caravans and we would go from classroom to classroom outside. Now, mashallah, it’s fancy and big. It’s a big airline with all these nice facilities. It’s changed a lot,” Capt Obaid says.
Joining as a second officer, he has steadily worked his way up, receiving his command in 2008.
“It’s a good feeling, a big responsibility because I was number two, for a long time. They don’t give you the command until you go through a lot of courses. Once I went through all of them,” he says.
And he has continued to rise through the ranks ever since, becoming a trainer first and then later a pilot examiner. Capt Obaid is currently on a break from working as an examiner to give him more time to fly, which is just as well, given the high profile assignments he has been receiving.
The request to fly the Pope came first. The airline was looking for an experienced Emirati captain to pilot the pontiff’s plane on the return leg to Rome.
“They called me and said you will fly the Pope. If there was a chance I would have fought for it, but I was lucky to just be offered,” he says.
Captain Obaid and the crew prepared intensively for the flight, practicing the approach to the semi-military airport near the Vatican many times, and undertaking classes to teach them about the protocol.
“They said he’s supposed to go this way and not supposed to shake hands with people, but he always breaks it,” he says.
“In fact, I was shocked because as soon as he walked into the aircraft, he came to the cockpit to shake hands with us. He doesn’t give you the feeling that he’s a very important person. He gives you the feeling that he’s a normal person. It was an honour to meet him.”
The next honour followed quickly after — the chance to be the first to fly the Special Olympics Flame of Hope out of Washington in late February. There were in fact two, one of which was a backup.
“They took many precautions. They even changed the type of aircraft because of safety to be closer to the gate,” says Capt Obaid.
“They blocked the first two rows of economy and put the flames in the middle. They were fixed on a table and the table was fixed to the seat. So whatever happened, the table would not fall down,” he says.
He is now waiting for further details of a special assignment — his third in as many months.
“I don’t know where it is. But [my boss] said I need to send you on these dates.
"It’s been a good year.”
The biog
Family: I am married with four kids, two boys and two girls. The oldest is 16 and the youngest is six.
Favourite book: Aviation books.
Favourite destination: I'm afraid if I say my favourite they will not send me anymore. I like to go to Singapore. I like the culture and people there.
Drives: A Nissan Patrol. I get more parking tickets than speeding tickets.
Favourite Planes: 787 and 777, the ones I fly.
One of his most memorable flights: One of the flights, but with an ex airline, was from Abu Dhabi to Heathrow and over Germany one of the crew told me one of the passengers was about to give birth. I said 'okay, just go and check and we will try to divert somewhere'. The crew member came back a few minutes later and said she already delivered. It was an easy delivery. Luckily for us, one of the crew members was a nurse. We made an announcement to the passengers and everyone was happy. It was one good experience.
Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
Bloomsbury Academic
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FIGHT CARD
Bantamweight Hamza Bougamza (MAR) v Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Catchweight 67kg Mohamed El Mesbahi (MAR) v Fouad Mesdari (ALG)
Lighweight Abdullah Mohammed Ali (UAE) v Abdelhak Amhidra (MAR)
Catchweight 73kg Mostafa Ibrahim Radi (PAL) v Yazid Chouchane (ALG)
Middleweight Yousri Belgaroui (TUN) v Badreddine Diani (MAR)
Catchweight 78kg Rashed Dawood (UAE) v Adnan Bushashy (ALG)
Middleweight Sallaheddine Dekhissi (MAR) v Abdel Emam (EGY)
Catchweight 65kg Rachid Hazoume (MAR) v Yanis Ghemmouri (ALG)
Lighweight Mohammed Yahya (UAE) v Azouz Anwar (EGY)
Catchweight 79kg Omar Hussein (PAL) v Souhil Tahiri (ALG)
Middleweight Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Laid Zerhouni (ALG)
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
Europa League semi-final, second leg
Atletico Madrid (1) v Arsenal (1)
Where: Wanda Metropolitano
When: Thursday, kick-off 10.45pm
Live: On BeIN Sports HD
Tips for taking the metro
- set out well ahead of time
- make sure you have at least Dh15 on you Nol card, as there could be big queues for top-up machines
- enter the right cabin. The train may be too busy to move between carriages once you're on
- don't carry too much luggage and tuck it under a seat to make room for fellow passengers
England World Cup squad
Eoin Morgan (capt), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler (wkt), Tom Curran, Liam Dawson, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, James Vince, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
'Panga'
Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari
Starring Kangana Ranaut, Richa Chadha, Jassie Gill, Yagya Bhasin, Neena Gupta
Rating: 3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
Rating: 4.5/5
Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
-
Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014%20PLUS
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The Africa Institute 101
Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction.
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
UAE%20SQUAD
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Scoreline
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17
Jebel Ali Dragons 20
Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson
Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2
Look%20Both%20Ways
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
ACC%20T20%20Women%E2%80%99s%20Championship
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