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Transport

Aviation and transport news from the Middle East. All the important stories, exclusive interviews, plus authoritative opinion and analysis

Aircraft, Flight, Transportation

Qantas warns rising fuel costs may hit fares

Australia’s biggest airline Qantas Airways said on Monday it will spend more than previously planned to improve “customer pain points” but warned spiraling fuel costs may force it to raise fares from already-elevated levels. The update sent its shares down as much as 2.5 percent to a one-year low as investors questioned the airline’s ability […]

Paradigm 3D launches its new Dubai facility, which the company hopes will take some business away from traditional manufacturers

Dubai 3D factory muscles in on aviation sector

A new 3D printing facility in Dubai, certified to produce airplane components, is anticipated to cut into a portion of traditional global aviation manufacturers and maintenance hubs. Paradigm 3D has invested AED20 million ($5.5 million) to establish a factory using technology from Stratasys, an American-Israeli maker of industrial 3D printers that are used by industry […]

aviation offsets

Aviation offset rules face shake-up as doubts persist

An imminent change to rules governing aviation carbon offsets ahead of the Cop28 climate conference may not be enough to convince airlines and others they have a meaningful effect, it has emerged. Aviation, like steel- and cement-making, is a hard-to-abate industry. It is difficult for companies within the sector to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide […]

Sharjah airport, the base of Air Arabia, received more than 2.8m passengers between July and August 2023

Sharjah airport targets 20m passengers by 2026

Sharjah airport will implement several expansion plans to raise its passenger handling capacity to 20 million by 2026 to become one of the top five regional airports, according to Ali Salim Al Midfa, chairman of Sharjah Airport Authority.  The authority remains dedicated to boosting the airport’s facilities, infrastructure, and services, he said in a statement. The AED2.4 […]

The UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iraq are all "very, very determined" on the $17bn project said Turkey's President Erdoğan

Erdoğan lauds $17bn link between Turkey and Iraq

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has lauded plans for a $17 billion infrastructure and transportation project linking southern Iraq to Turkey as an opportunity to “build a new world”. The Development Road project will link Grand Faw Port, a commodities port in Iraq, by rail and road to the border with Turkey. It will transform […]

Flydubai carried more than four million passengers between June and mid-September 2023

Flydubai passenger traffic up 30% despite jet order delays

UAE carrier flydubai has reported a 30 percent year-on-year rise in passenger numbers this summer. A senior executive said the airline would have seen an even larger increase if the new aircraft it ordered had been delivered as scheduled. The low-cost airline carried more than four million passengers between June and mid-September 2023, and operated […]

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that the company will pick a location for a new factory by the end of 2023

Musk terms Tesla’s Saudi factory talks ‘utterly false’

Billionaire Elon Musk has termed a media report about Tesla Inc. being in talks with Saudi Arabia to set up a production facility in the kingdom as “utterly false”. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday, citing informed sources, that the kingdom is in early talks with US electric vehicle (EV) maker Tesla. “Yet […]

The General Authority of Civil Aviation says passenger protections are vital for a robust aviation sector

Saudi airlines issue $15m refunds to passengers

Refunds of SAR58 million ($15.5 million) for flight cancellations, delays and loss of luggage have been issued by Saudi airlines over the past two years, it was revealed on Monday. The figures were announced by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca). Enhanced passenger rights protection regulations, which come into force in November, will result […]

Hala manages 21,000 drivers on its platform with a fleet of 12,000 cars provided by franchise partners

Dubai’s Hala reports 36% rise in trips as user numbers up

Hala, Dubai’s e-hailing taxi service on the Careem app, has reported a 36 percent annual growth in trips in the first six months of 2023 and a 21 percent rise in new users year on year. Khaled Nuseibeh, CEO at Hala, said that the performance has been “tremendous” this year so far, with March 2023 […]

Lumi reported a profit of SAR100 million in the first half of 2023

Lumi’s retail IPO tranche orders hit $333m

Saudi-based car rental company Lumi said the retail tranche of its initial public offering (IPO) was oversubscribed 11.5 times, with demand reaching SAR1.25 billion ($333.25 million). The retail subscription, which took place on September 12, was subscribed by 124,888 investors. It comprised 1,650,000 shares, representing 10 percent of the total offering. Based on the results […]

DAE said the aircraft will ‘continue to deteriorate, resulting in a sharp decline in the value of the asset’

DAE detects corrosion in leased plane to Indian airline

Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) Capital has told an Indian court it detected corrosion of some parts and “a greenish deposit” on a plane leased to bankrupt airline Go First, after another lessor complained about “robbed” parts. Foreign lessors have been engaged in a legal tussle to repossess their aircraft after the Indian airline was granted […]

Katrina Kaif for Etihad

Moving from Kidman to Kaif, Etihad looks east

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, has appointed Bollywood actress Katrina Kaif as its new brand ambassador, showing the Abu Dhabi carrier’s increased focus on the fast-growing eastern markets. The association was unveiled through a series of videos showcased on social channels. Amina Taher, vice-president of brand, marketing and sponsorship at Etihad Airways, […]

SAL is owned by Saudi Arabian Airlines - Saudia - and Tarabot

Saudi logistics company SAL announces IPO

Saudi Logistics Services Company – known as SAL – said on Tuesday it would launch an initial public offering of 30 percent of its shares on the Saudi market. It was not clear when the SAL IPO will take place. A statement said the price of each of the 24 million shares would be determined […]

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands at the G20 summit in New Delhi

India-Middle East-Europe transport link announced

World leaders have announced a shipping and rail transportation corridor linking countries across the Middle East, South Asia and Europe at the G20 summit in New Dehli, India, on Saturday. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (Imec) aims to integrate railway routes and link ports along a route spanning from India to Europe, through the UAE, […]

The UAE government's head of cybersecurity Dr Mohammed Al Kuwaiti. The organisation says it is foiling 50,000 cyber attacks a day

Logistics companies targeted in latest global cyber fraud

Logistics companies in the Middle East and Africa are being targeted by a worldwide scam that impersonates businesses’ websites in order to defraud consumers. According to Group-IB, a global cybersecurity company based in Singapore, the fraud – known as Classiscam – has targeted 251 brands in 79 countries. This includes 15 countries across Middle East […]

Aramco Stellantis

Aramco and Dutch car maker make low-carbon fuel

Saudi oil major Aramco and Dutch car maker Stellantis have developed an e-fuel that will work without modifications in the engines of some 24 million vehicles already on European roads and using conventional petrol.  Recent tests showed the low-carbon fuel could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing internal combustion vehicles by at least 70 percent, […]

The new funding will add another 25-30 million sq ft to IndoSpace’s logistics portfolio across India

Qatar leads $150m funding for Indian industrial park fund

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has led the $150 million fundraising round for the new fund of IndoSpace, which develops grade-A industrial and logistics parks in India. QIA is the world’s 10th largest sovereign wealth fund with $475 billion of assets under management, the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute said in May. The fundraising round also included […]

DP World has announced a critical expansion plan that will take its total gross capacity to 93.6 million TEUs

DP World to hire banks for 10-year debut green sukuk

DP World intends to issue its first 10-year US dollar-denominated benchmark-sized green sukuk, as the ports operator expands its global reach. The Dubai-based company held investor meetings on September 4 and 5, Reuters reported, citing a bank document. Citi, Deutsche Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, J.P. Morgan and […]

Executives of Orascom and Thales and officials of Egyptian National Railways at the contract signing ceremony

Contract awarded to modernise Egyptian railway

A consortium of Egypt’s Orascom Construction and Paris-based Thales Group has signed a new $323.50 million contract with Egyptian National Railways to modernise the double-track railway. The track, located on the east bank of the river Nile, 115 km from the country’s capital, will link Cairo with Giza and Beni Suef. The project will be […]