Bloomberg In the world of multibillion dollar defense contracts, India stands out. Home to one of the biggest armed forces on the planet, the country has an uneasy co-existence with neighbours Pakistan and China. Its rapidly aging fighter jets make it a lucrative potential prize for the likes of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. While India wants to upgrade ...

Bloomberg Britain will impose a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) drone exclusion zone around its runways as the government responds to illegal incursions that closed London Gatwick airport for 36 hours in December, disrupting travel for more than 120,000 people. The measures, taking effect March 13, extend the current 1-kilometer no-fly zone for unmanned and model aircraft, the Department for Transport ...

Bloomberg Air France-KLM Group’s French pilots approved a pay deal, putting an end to last year’s labour conflict and handing Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith more freedom to define his new strategy. The accord, hammered out during months of talks between management and unions, was approved by 85 percent of pilots, the SNPL union said in a phone message. It ...

Bloomberg Walmart Inc. finally gave the US retail sector some good news. The company brushed off the industry’s disappointing December sales with its best holiday quarter in at least a decade, soothing concerns about the sector’s outlook for 2019. Comparable sales for Walmart stores in the US — a key performance barometer — rose 4.2 percent in the quarter that ...

Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. said it would investigate the cause of an operational emergency that’s seen an “unprecedented number” of aircraft taken out of service for mechanical issues, and indicated the groundings may be related to ongoing contract talks with a labour union. The disruptions started February 12, days after the airline’s last contract talks with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal ...

Bloomberg Flybe Group Plc said American Airlines-backed Mesa Air Group Inc. has launched a counter-bid for its business, leading the stock to more than double in price. The approach from Phoenix, Arizona-based Mesa and New York private-equity firm Bateleur Capital LLC is “preliminary and highly conditional,” Exeter, England-based short-haul carrier Flybe said in a statement on Wednesday, without revealing how ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Armed Forces has awarded 28 deals worth AED 4,878,756,832 on the third-day of the International Defence Exhibition (Idex), and the Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition (Navdex). The total value of deals awarded so far to national and international companies has reached AED16.869 billion. Speaking at a press conference, General Mohammed Al Hassani, Official ...

Abu DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi Ship Building and Leonardo signed an MoU to enhance their collaboration in the naval sector. Building on years of positive partnership for development of UAE naval capabil- ities, under the MoU, which was signed at Idex, the two parties will jointly work to create a combat management system (CMS), integration laboratory capable of testing, ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE Central Bank has announced that money supply aggregate M1 increased by 0.1 percent, from AED485.6 billion at end of December 2018 to AED486 billion at end of January 2019. The money supply aggregate M2 decreased by 0.2 percent, from AED1308.4 billion to AED1305.5 billion.

ABU DHABI / Emirates Business LuLu, the largest hypermarket chain in the Middle East, launched the annual Egyptian-themed food festival “Taste of Egypt” across its stores in the UAE. The week-long fest features various offers on different product categories until February 25. In partnership with EgyptAir, LuLu will be giving away 10 tickets to Cairo in a raffle promo, where ...