UAE-India air corridor extended as expats leave and others return

An air travel agreement opening up commercial flights between the UAE and India was extended until the end of the year.

The Indian consulate in Dubai said there was "healthy growth" in travel between the nations as Covid-19 restrictions gradually ease.

The UAE-India "air bubble" – established in July – allows for direct commercial travel between the two countries but does not include transit passengers flying to other destinations

Under the partnership, Indian citizens who live in the UAE can fly home for holidays as well as to repatriate, while any Indian citizen holding any form of UAE visa can travel from their home country to the Emirates.

Officials said the agreement, which was to have expired at the end of October, will continue for at least the remainder of 2020.

There is a constant increase in air travel between the two countries

"We are witnessing healthy growth in travel between India and the UAE," Neeraj Agrawal, a spokesman at the Indian consulate in Dubai, told The National.

“Right now, we are not witnessing a distressed situation where people are leaving.

“It’s not like it was in May, June and July.

“We have a figure of 650,000 people who have travelled to India but we can’t say that these are people leaving the UAE because now this is normal traffic, the dynamics have changed.”

Mr Agrawal said the demand for travel to the UAE from India have risen since flights resumed on July 12.

“It’s the festival season so people are coming to visit family and also for holidays,” said Mr Agrawal.

“There is a constant increase in air travel between the two countries and as of today there is more than 12,000 seat capacity each way.”

Embassy officials confirmed a further 240,000 Indians had travelled to the UAE since the bi-lateral travel agreement was signed.

The Indian consulate in Dubai said more than 650,000 people have travelled to India since May 7.

But those records do not reflect specifics of the number of residents who went back temporarily, for medical treatment or annual leave, and had returned to the UAE.

International air travel shut down in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. India began Vande Bharat or Salute India flights to repatriate citizens in May.

The Indian consulate and embassy then asked citizens to register with details of their reasons for travel and the city they needed to reach.

The elderly, pregnant women and people who had lost jobs were given priority when flights began on May 7.

In a huge repatriation programme of the largest diaspora in the UAE, thousands of flights were operated by the government-run Air India and private airlines.

About 630,000 people registered on the Indian government website to travel home.

Mandatory registrations were shut two months ago after the air corridor agreement began.

Thousands of Filipinos return home

Philippines consul general in Dubai reported about 50,000 nationals had returned home following a resumption of flight schedules out of the UAE.

Of those, the Philippine Consulate provided free tickets and assistance to more than 2,600 nationals, either made redundant or with little option but to return home.

Before Covid-19 forced many to reconsider their futures, roughly 700,000 Philippine nationals were estimated to live in the UAE.

Consul General Paul Cortes said some workers were asked by employers to go on furlough, while Filipino tourists stranded by grounded airlines also received embassy help to fly home.

The majority returned on commercial flights operated by Emirates Airline, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific, while others took three special repatriation flights in June and August.

Air tickets worth Dh5.2 million were funded by the Assistance to Nationals department of the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.

On landing in Manila, workers were tested by the coastguard for Covid-19, with hotel expenses for those forced into quarantine paid by the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration.

Consul general Ahmed Amjad Ali speaks to journalists and residents during the campaign to repatriate Pakistani expats. Reem Mohammed / The National
Journalists and community leaders are briefed in the garden of the consulate. About 60,000 expats were flown home on special PIA, Emirates and flydubai services in recent weeks. Reem Mohammed / The National
Among those return home, on two special flydubai services, were almost 400 Pakistani prisoners who were released from Dubai's main jail. AFP
Health workers look on as Pakistani citizens check in at Dubai International Airport before leaving the country on a repatriation flight on April 4. Karim Sahib / AFP
Pakistan consul general Ahmed Ali speaks to travellers at Dubai International Airport on May 15. Courtesy: Pakistan Consulate
Mohammed Akhtar queues outside the Dnata flight centre in Deira, Dubai on June 21. He was trying to buy a ticket back home for the funeral of his son, who was killed in a car accident. Reem Mohammed / The National
Pakistanis originally required consular approval to buy tickets home, which has now been dropped. Reem Mohammed / The National
About 80,000 to 90,000 Pakistanis applied to return home, with 60,000 travelling on government-arranged flights. Reem Mohammed / The National

Embassies in the UAE reported a further 80,000 Pakistanis and 20,000 Bangladeshis had also left the country, but many could now return as employment prospects recover.

Last month a group of 545 Pakistanis and about 150 to 200 Indian citizens were stopped at Dubai International Airport for failing to meet visit visa requirements.

Those arriving on a tourist visa must have a return airline ticket, a minimum of Dh2,000 to support their stay, hotel reservation or address and contact of the relative they are staying with.

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THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

Saudi National Day

Why the UAE has many reasons to celebrate its closest friend and ally

Who's who in Yemen conflict

Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government

Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council

Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south

Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory

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.”

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