Bloomberg South African Airways (SAA) has been denied any further funding by its government owner as the national carrier looks for ways to recover from the coronavirus crisis and a local form of bankruptcy protection. The airline’s administrators, who were put in charge in December, were told by the state to instead source cash from available resources, according to a ...

Bloomberg Air-passenger traffic slumped 54% in China in the first three months of 2020 as the coronavirus outbreak and related travel restrictions decimated demand. China’s aviation industry lost 39.8 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in the first quarter, with airlines accounting for 33.6 billion yuan, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CACC) said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday. Passenger ...

DUBAI / WAM The number of visitors to the official portal of UAE government (U.AE) exceeded 2.9 million during the first quarter of 2020, a rise of 56.63 percent from the first quarter of 2019, the Telecommunications Regulatory (TRA) announced. The authority added that there were four million visits to the portal in the first quarter of this year, while ...

Sharjah / WAM The emirate of Sharjah has recorded up to 18,537 real estate transactions totalling AED3.6 billion in the first quarter of 2020, revealed a report by the Sharjah Real Estate Registration Department (SRERD). The said transactions were recorded in 129 areas in the emirate covering 8.9 million square feet, according to Abdul Aziz Ahmed Al Shamsi, Director-General of ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Ports’ Corporate Services Department was awarded the Procurement Excellence Gold Award from the UK-based Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply as part of institute’s Advanced Procurement Excellence Programme. The institute recognised Abu Dhabi Ports’ efforts in elevating its procurement function’s role in providing vital input into company’s strategic business decisions, enhancing customer experience and ...

Bloomberg The International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted the “Great Lockdown” recession would be steepest in almost a century and warned the world economy’s contraction and recovery would be worse than anticipated if coronavirus lingers or returns. In its first World Economic Outlook report since spread of Covid-19 and subsequent freezing of major economies, the IMF estimated on Tuesday that global ...

Bloomberg Oil erased earlier gains as the demand destruction caused by the coronavirus pandemic outweighed planned output cuts from the world’s biggest producers. Futures fell 4.6% in New York amid persistent concerns of a massive supply glut. A key timespread on American benchmark — a gauge of the health of the market — is at its weakest level in more ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE has sent an aid plane carrying eight metric tonnes of medical supplies to Cyprus, benefitting nearly 10,000 healthcare professionals in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. “Providing support to countries affected by Covid-19 is a humanitarian obligation upon all countries, as strengthening multilateral cooperation is necessary to overcome this crisis,” said Sultan Ahmed Ghanem ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business dnata corporate Travel, one of the largest business travel management companies in the Middle East, has taken several initiatives to provide the highest possible value to its corporate customers to help them navigate today’s challenging and fast-changing global travel environment. dnata has focused on minimising the impact on customers’ travel budgets whilst complementing their duty of ...

DUBAI / WAM The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection (CCCP) division at Dubai Economy has imposed fines on nine merchants, including five pharmacies, a supply company, a supermarket, and a trading company for taking advantage of the present circumstances by inflating the prices of face masks. Dubai Economy said in a statement that the action was taken following consumer complaints ...