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Emirates becomes world’s largest superjumbo operator

An Airbus A380

Emirates has become the world’s largest operator of the A380 aircraft with a total of 12 in its fleet, which has been generating interest from around the world, a company spokesman said.

The airline’s expanding A380 fleet has been attracting attention from airports across the globe as Manchester became the latest city to be served by the superjumbo, Emirates Airlines said in a statement… MORE

Cinema and Event Tickets Coming Soon To Your Mobile

Cinemagoers in the UAE will soon be able to download mobile bar-coded cinema and entertainment show tickets through cellphones, eliminating the need for physical delivery.

Etisalat Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Mobiqa, specialists in mobile content optimisation, to bring mobile phone ticketing to the region… MORE

Dubai Mall Is Opening The Fashion Dome

When Mall of the Emirates first opened in 2005, its combination of high-street favourites and luxury stores soon made it the go-to place for discerning shoppers. Bringing together designer labels such as Louis Vuitton, D&G and Gucci, its ski-sloped roof also housed the UAE’s first Harvey Nichols…  But tomorrow, Mall of the Emirates will attempt to regain the designer-heeled footfall it lost to Fashion Avenue with its new extension, the Fashion Dome. With more than 30 luxury fashion outlets, 20 of which are new to the mall, the piazza-style Fashion Dome promises a return to the exclusive shopping experience it used to monopolise… MORE

Etihad is Hooking-up With Virgin Blue

Virgin Blue Holdings Limited (ASX: VBA) and Etihad Airways PJSC today signed an agreement establishing a commercial partnership that will enable Virgin Blue’s international arm, V Australia, to launch direct services to Abu Dhabi in 2011 and the two airlines to offer a joint network of more than 100 destinations from October 1, 2010.

Together, Etihad and V Australia will move towards a total of 27 weekly services between Abu Dhabi and Australia – including double-daily services between Abu Dhabi and Sydney, daily Melbourne-Abu Dhabi flights and six frequencies per week between Abu Dhabi and Brisbane.

V Australia will operate three Sydney-Abu Dhabi services per week from February 2011 and three Brisbane-Abu Dhabi services per week by February 2012, using its new fleet of three-class Boeing 777-300ER and becoming the first Australian carrier to operate to the Middle East since 1991.

From October, Virgin Blue Group customers can access Etihad’s network of 65 destinations across North America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Subcontinent. All Virgin Blue services will be available to Etihad customers, opening up 45 destinations in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and to Asia, South Africa and Los Angeles… SOURCE

Petrol Price Rise Will Fuel Inflation

A likely increase in fuel prices within the next few weeks will exert greater inflationary pressures on the UAE economy as producers and suppliers will pass on the increase in transportation costs to the consumers, experts cautioned Sunday… MORE

UAE petrol prices to rise for third time in a year after Eid

Petrol prices in the UAE are set to rise a third time this year. Sources from oil company Adnoc told Gulf News that the fuel distribution companies are about to increase price on fuel… MORE

Dubai Government ‘may have to convert DIFC Investments loan’

The Government of Dubai may have to convert its US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) loan to Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Investments into shares, the US investment bank JPMorgan says.

DIFC Investments, which owns the infrastructure and property of the DIFC, has more than $3bn in liabilities.

It is in the process of putting together a restructuring and disposals plan to reduce this debt… MORE

UAE Banks Stuck with 50% Non-performing Loans

Non-performing loans are expected to swell almost 50 per cent to nearly Dh65 billion (US$17.69bn) this year as the global economic downturn and sagging property prices take a further toll on the country’s lenders.

The rise is likely to force lenders to set aside more reserves to protect themselves.

“Non-performing loans are already at a reasonable level,” Sultan Nasser al Suwaidi, the Central Bank Governor, said yesterday.

“If you take into account write-offs, non-performing loans would be higher.”…SOURCE

Non-performing loans were expected to rise to 6.5 per cent of bank lending this year from 4.4 per cent last year, he said. The total value of loans and advances in the UAE is Dh1 trillion, according to Central Bank statistics.

Banks’ loan books have been adversely affected by exposure to a severe correction in the country’s property sector, with estimated price declines of up to 50 per cent in Dubai and 40 per cent in Abu Dhabi.

Etisalat Caught With Non-Contract Workers

Hundreds of employees of etislalat’s 181 directory service are not under the company’s sponsorship, Gulf News has learnt.

The call centre employees, who are based in Ajman, say they have never been issued with employment visas or labour cards. They told Gulf News they are paid Dh16 per hour but have no contract. Many of them have been working there for more than five or six years.

“I was sponsored by my father,” said a 25-year-old Arab employee, who has been at the centre for five years. “I was able to obtain a visa from a company in Dubai and am working at etisalat,” he said.

Another employee, who has been working there for three years, said he was sponsored by his father. His sponsorship is going to expire in three months, he added.

A woman employee said she worked for the call centre for one and a half years but has stopped working for them now.

“I was on the sponsorship of my father,” she said…SOURCE

Dubai, RTA Considering SALIK Tolls on Emirates Road

The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) is considering installing a Salik gate on Emirates Road, Arabic daily Al Bayan reported on Monday.

The report said indicators of the general budget for Dubai for 2010 expect the RTA to increase Salik revenues by introducing a new Salik gate on Emirates Road…SOURCE

Abu Dhabi Bails Out Dubai

Dubai today unveiled a sweeping US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) rescue package from the Abu Dhabi Government that will allow Dubai World to deal with a slew of immediate financial obligations, including a $3.5bn Islamic bond that is due today.

Will the Palms Ever Be Completed?

The move ends months of speculation about how Nakheel, a developer owned by Dubai World, would pay off the sukuk amid declining property values and a slowdown in sales that left it virtually bereft of revenues.

It also represents by far the most direct and explicit support of Dubai to date by the Abu Dhabi Government in the wake of the financial crisis. The crisis battered property values in Dubai and slowed its ambitious growth plans as it struggled to find a solution to a crippling debt load that has been estimated at $85bn, a total greater than Dubai’s annual GDP…MORE

Non Gulf Bond Holders Threaten to ‘Go Nuclear’ Over Repayment of Bonds

…Meanwhile, bondholders of the Nakheel sukuk that is due to be redeemed on Monday took part in a conference call organised by Deutsche Bank yesterday. Deutsche Bank, which is trustee to the sukuk, said it was seeking clarity from the issuer about its plans to restructure debt, according to two investors who participated in the conference call. Bloomberg reported that the call finished without any discussion of adopting specific recommendations, said the investors, who declined to be identified because the discussion was private.

One New York hedge fund manager said: “It was a ‘listen-only’ call that repeated all the public statements by the Dubai Government. There was absolutely no news or new information. It was a total waste of time.”

A letter from Ashurst, the London law firm hired by the non-Gulf bondholders, has been sent to Nakheel rejecting the call for a standstill on the sukuk repayment and seeking repayment in full on the due date.

A bondholder said: “We will make it clear that we are not afraid to push the nuclear button.”

“We will make it as difficult as possible for Dubai to borrow money at good rates again and try to embarrass them that way. We are enforcing our rights and expecting payment.”…MORE

Palm is not sinking, says Nakheel

Will Atlantis go the way of well… ATLANTIS?

The Palm Jumeirah is not sinking into the sea, contrary to speculation in recent days, a Nakheel executive says.

“The proof is in the pudding,” said Shaun Lenehan, the head of Nakheel’s environment department. “The Palm is intact. If there were subsidence, you would see cracks in the buildings, windows popping out. We have no evidence of that happening.”

But the US$12 billion (Dh44.07) island has settled slightly since it was created, in line with all artificially created land masses, Mr Lenehan and other engineers said.

Is Atlantis Destined to Sink?

He was responding to claims from a landscape surveyor speaking at a conference in Qatar, who was quoted as saying that the Palm Jumeirah was sinking by an average of 5mm a year and might flood in the future if ocean levels rose. The engineer cited satellite images of the island taken periodically over the past few years…MORE

The Picture Pretty Much Says It All About Investing in Dubai

When the Ticker Stops

How Dubai’s burst bubble has left behind the last days of Rome

The engine of the black Corvette revved to a gasket-popping roar. Its driver leant out of his window. He was dressed in traditional Arab robes but wore a rubber wizard’s mask. He held an aerosol aloft and directed a jet of party foam into the air. Four-wheel drives plastered in pictures of Dubai’s Royal Family roared their engines back in approval. The cacophony was deafening.

On the opposite carriageway smoke billowed from the spinning back wheels of a new Land Cruiser as the driver pressed the brakes and floored the accelerator. This was the favourite way for many of the fervently patriotic and car crazy Emiratis to mark National Day in Dubai this week, the 38th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates, and one of the biggest celebrations of the year.

A mile away at the new Marina Yacht Club, Western expats were also working their way into a party mood. Deferential Filipino staff served a foamy lobster broth as an amuse bouche between courses. Beer and cocktails loosened tongues and a knot of dancers formed in front of the band. Tens of millions of pounds worth of powerboats bobbed at their moorings beneath the revelry on the terrace. Behind the boats a dozen skyscrapers framed the view, a few of the lights in their thousands of flats were on. “It’s so beautiful here,” said a pretty young Anglo-Indian woman clutching a large glass of chilled white wine and taking in the scene.

Welcome to the modern equivalent of the last days of Rome. The failure of Dubai World, one of the Emirate’s flagship companies, to honour a debt due last month has rocked this city state to its foundations. By any conventional logic Dubai is now a busted flush…MORE