SYDNEY // More Australian flights were cancelled yesterday because of ash from a Chilean volcano, this time out of a midsize southern airport, as airlines scrambled to fly out thousands of passengers who had been stranded for two days in Melbourne.
The national carrier Qantas and the budget airline Jetstar said they planned to add capacity to and from Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, and hoped to get all passengers in the air by the end of the day.
More than 60,000 passengers had been stranded since Monday in Australia but it was unclear how many people were still stranded in Melbourne as flights resumed.
Meanwhile, about two dozen flights into and out of the southern city of Adelaide were cancelled yesterday. The grounded flights included services by the budget carrier Tiger Airways, which also cancelled a flight between Melbourne and Perth because the route would require planes to cross through the ash cloud.
Qantas, Jetstar and Tiger said late yesterday that all their mainland Australian routes would be open today, including to and from Adelaide. But flights to Tasmania and New Zealand would remain grounded, as they have since Sunday.
Ash has moved across the Pacific from Chile where a volcano has been erupting since June 4. Particles in the ash can damage jet engines, and flights in Chile and other South American countries have been grounded at times as well.
New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority said yesterday that the ash will be back in Chile soon, after having circled the globe. Even if the eruption stops now, however, the agency said, Australia and New Zealand can expect at least another week of ash clouds in their airspace.
Australia's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre said flights could be affected for several days, mostly in southeastern Australia, which includes Tasmania and Melbourne. Adelaide is about halfway across Australia's southern coast.
"We were worried about it potentially pushing up to Canberra and Sydney, but that's less of a concern for us now," Andrew Tupper, the head of the centre, told the Australia Broadcasting Corp.
The national carrier Air New Zealand never suspended service, instead choosing to divert flights and alter altitudes. Virgin Australia is using similar methods, but Qantas has repeatedly rejected flying below the cloud.
Virgin Australia, which initially cancelled similar routes but resumed all flights on Monday, expected to have worked through its backlog by the end of yesterday, according to its spokesman Colin Lippiatt.
* Associated Press
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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.
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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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