Air Arabia in the past few days has reconsidered the number of flights to Saudi Arabia, similar to what Fly Dubai did. There are already plans for flights to India while flights to Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco will be the top priority.

On the other hand, Air Arabia’s joint venture carrier in Abu Dhabi will soon be scaling up its India-bound services. It is quite evident that Saudi Arabia is one of the markets for UAE’s airlines.

Air Arabia recently stated that it will soon resume direct flights from Sharjah to four different cities — Taif, Al Jouf, Gassim, and Hail. In addition to this, Air Arabia will also fly to 11 other cities in Saudi Arabia.

Commenting on the development, the spokesman for the low-cost carrier said, “Passengers will enjoy flying directly from Sharjah International Airport to these cities, where frequencies will increase during summer.”

Fly Dubai will resume its flights to Ha’il and Tabuk starting May 9. Fly Dubai is also the first UAE airline to launch flights to AiUia, it is close to Saudi Arabia’s UNESCO World Heritage site, Hegra.

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During the period from 2015 to 2020, payment revenues in the Kingdom surged by nearly 23 percent to reach $256 million.

BCG partner Mohammad Khan told the media, “When examining the recent economic recovery in Bahrain, the country’s payments industry has certainly played its part. Changing consumers preferences and the emergence of various digital channels have been a key driver behind the industry’s contributions.

“These occurrences have ultimately placed the industry in the favourable position which it stands today, with every indication pointing toward a new chapter of sustainability and positivity for all concerned parties.”

Earlier this year, the Central Bank of Bahrain revealed that cashless payments in Bahrain jumped 65 percent to nearly $744 million in August, after topping $3.62 billion in the first half of this year.

CBB data further revealed that more than 11 million cashless transactions were recorded during September 2021, which is an increase of 55.5 percent when compared to the September 2020 figure.

Dalal Buhejji, executive director of business development investment origination at the Economic Development Board (EDB), told the media, “Even before the pandemic, the GCC was embracing digital and mobile banking and payments. Bahrain has anticipated the trends that were catalysed by the pandemic.”

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According to the IATA report, the Middle East aviation sector carried even fewer passengers in April, which contributed to the further dip in numbers. The report also mentioned that the passenger traffic was down by 87.3 percent, compared to the numbers of 2019. Given the travel restrictions imposed by the government, the aviation sector still has a long way to go in terms of recovering international passenger travel.

According to experts, the Covid-19 vaccination programme was expected to have a positive impact on the aviation industry. As of June 8, around 2.2 billion people have been fully vaccinated, as reported by Our World in Data. In the UAE, 13.5 million doses of vaccine have been administered, reported the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management.

After incurring huge losses because of the pandemic, the air transport body is pushing to ease border restrictions and to restart travel. But, in the face of the resurgence of the Covid-19 cases all over the world, several countries have once again tightened their borders to fight the spread of the virus. The UAE announced that they will be suspending aircraft from three African countries after a spike of fresh Covid-19 cases was noticed.

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According to Qatar Airways, the new flights will enable passengers flying from and to Sharjah to benefit from Qatar Airway’s extensive international network. The carrier said its flight QR1036 will depart Doha daily at 14:35 and touch down in Sharjah in the next two hours. The return flight, QR1037, will push back from Sharjah at 17:55 and arrive back in Doha at 18:05.

Qatar Airways also announced flights to Khartoum, Mykonos, Málaga, Atlanta, and Phuket. The airline has also launched its inaugural flights to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire.

According to Qatar Airways Group chief executive Akbar Al Baker the carrier remains interested in acquiring a stake in India’s largest domestic carrier, IndiGo Airlines. The Doha-based carrier currently has a codeshare agreement with IndiGo.

This is not the first time Qatar Airways is indicating interest in IndiGo. Previously, the carrier showed similar interest back in 2019, however, nothing much materialise back then. According to Al Baker, it was not the right time.
Mr. Al Baker told the media, “Profitability, and efficiency are main criteria of our investment. IndiGo is the largest and most efficient Indian airline, which is why we are interested in them. And India remains strategically an important market for Qatar Airways.”

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This is not the first time Qatar Airways is indicating interest in IndiGo. Previously, the carrier showed similar interest back in 2019, however, nothing much materialise back then. According to Al Baker, it was not the right time.
Mr. Al Baker told the media, “Profitability, and efficiency are main criteria of our investment. IndiGo is the largest and most efficient Indian airline, which is why we are interested in them. And India remains strategically an important market for Qatar Airways.”

Earlier this year, Qatar Airways increased the frequency of flights to Sao Paulo and expanded its codeshare agreement with LATAM Airlines Brazil. It seeks to optimised connectivity for both airlines to and from Asian destinations.
Passengers of LATAM Airline Brazil will hugely benefit from Qatar Airways’ expansion to 10 weekly flights to and from Sao Paulo. Additionally, the passengers will be able to book eight Qatar Airways’ destinations. These destinations include Hong Kong, Bangkok, Maldives, Nairobi, Seoul and Tokyo. It is reported that there will also be additional flights to Baku, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

In January, Qatar Airways Cargo, which is one of the world’s leading air cargo carriers, took delivery of three new Boeing 777 Freighters last week. This will take the carrier’s total freighter fleet count to 30 freighters. Its fleet consists of two Boeing 747 freighters, 24 Boeing 777 Freighters and four Airbus A330 freighters.

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The new service to Addis Ababa is expected to fly twice a week connecting the Middle East and Africa. Rohit Ramachandran revealed that the carrier plans to launch a number of new services this year.

With regard to the launch of the new service to Addis Ababa, Rohit Ramachandran, chief executive officer at Jazeera Airways told the media, “We are pleased to continue with our network expansion plans. There is a significant Ethiopian expatriate population living in Kuwait and the across the region and opening this new route will provide them with a great value option.”

Last month, Jazeera Airlines announced an operating revenue of KD41.4 million for 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic, which battered the global aviation sector, leading to billion-dollar losses. It was further reported that the number of passengers flown during the year subsequently came in at 696,093, down from 2.4 million in 2019 with a load factor of 64.3 percent while yield increased 38.4 percent to KD57.4.

In this regard, Jazeera Airways Chairman, Marwan Boodai told the media, “While the extent of the pandemic was not foreseen back in March 2020, Jazeera took immediate action to safeguard its position against airport closures and ensure its business continuity as a private company.”

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Etihad said that it will fly its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to Beijing and it will have business and economy cabins. Earlier, Etihad resumed operations to Shanghai, after grounding its flights for three months earlier this year.

Martin Drew, senior vice president for sales and cargo of Etihad Aviation Group, told the media, “China continues to be a strategically important market for Etihad and resuming an additional passenger route connecting China with Abu Dhabi is a welcome development. Being granted the rights to operate the second weekly flight by the Chinese government was a huge recognition of the unrelenting joint efforts by the airline, testing institutions in the UAE, and the authorities in both countries, in the battle against Covid-19.

“Etihad is tremendously grateful for the support of the authorities, its customers and partners, and its employees in these most challenging of times, and Etihad stands ready to fly more frequently to China when possible.”

The carrier recorded losses of around $758 million during the first six months of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic. It carried around 3.5 million passengers during the first half of this year compared to 8.2 million a year ago.

Last month, Etihad Airways, partnered with Verteil Technologies, a New Distribution Capability (NDC) aggregation partner, as it continues its NDC strategy launched earlier this year. Through the partnership, Etihad will aim to expand its global NDC distribution with a particular focus on India.

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The carrier suspended all scheduled international flights on 29 March 29 to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus. However, Oman Air continued to operate some domestic, repatriation as well as cargo flights amid the pandemic.

The carrier will offer flights connecting Muscat to cities such as London, Frankfurt in Europe, Istanbul, Delhi, Kochi, Mumbai, Lahore, Manila, Kuala Lumpur in Asia, and Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Cairo in Africa.

Flights to and from London will depart on Sundays and Wednesday. Similarly, flights to and from Frankfurt will depart on Mondays and Saturdays. Flights to Istanbul will depart from Muscat on Wednesdays and Sundays, with return flights on Mondays and Thursdays.

Earlier this year, Oman Air terminated contracts of 125 pilots in order to cut cost and help the carrier deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Oman Air had laid off all captains and first officers on its B787 and A330 fleet, according to media reports.

It has also sent some of its employees on leave without pay.

Oman Air has partnered with BankDhofar to launch a new payment gateway that will enable the carrier’s customers to buy air tickets through their debit cards.

Suleiman Al Ghannami, chief financial officer at Oman Air told the media, “Oman Air is delighted to partner with BankDhofar and its ecommerce Payment Gateway platform to offer customers a convenient way to purchase their flight tickets online and on our mobile app. This partnership proves our commitment towards improving our customer experience with the introduction of convenient payment options. Oman Air works hard and do its best to satisfy its valued guests.”

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The cash injection was promised to Emirates by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum in the month of March, when UAE entered a state of lockdown and air travel was restricted.

The cash injection received by Emirates however has not been reported by the government or the carrier as of yet. The details were disclosed in a prospectus for a potential bond issuance by the Dubai government.

Emirates in May said it planned to raise debt to manage the pandemic. It raised 4.4 billion dirhams in the first quarter.

According to reports, Emirates crew were told through an internal memo that they can take unpaid leave for between one and three months from September 1 to November 30 owing to expected staffing requirements.

Earlier this month, Emirates announced that it is expecting to return to full capacity by this time next year.

Emirates’ COO Adel al Redha told the media, “I think we can easily say by Summer ’21 we will be serving 100 percent of our network destinations. That means 143 destinations will be served by summer ’21. Obviously the frequency of flights per day will depend on demand.

Even though Emirates is planning to fly to 143 destinations by next year, the number of flights flying to these destinations may not be the same as it will take longer for air demand to reach pre-Covid-19 levels again.

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The aviation sector has been one of the worst-hit sector by the coronavirus pandemic.

According to reports, Emirates crew were told through an internal memo that they can take unpaid leave for between one and three months from September 1 to November 30 owing to expected staffing requirements.

Similar announcements were made by Etihad too, as the carrier informed that crew members can take between 10 days to six months of unpaid leave from September 16.

Both carriers were forced to ground almost of all their flights in March as the UAE decided to seal its international borders and restrict air travel to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

However, in June, the restrictions were lifted and the carriers are gradually starting their operations to domestic as well as international destinations.

Etihad Airways recorded losses of around $758 million during the first six months of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Etihad Airways carried around 3.5 million passengers during the first half of this year compared to 8.2 percent a year ago.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), around 45 percent of global carriers, including the UAE’s Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia, have reported having already reduced their staff numbers in the second quarter of 2020 due to cost-cutting measures following the pandemic.

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