February, 2018

• 14 February

  Drone’s close encounter with jet spurs call to tighten regulations

  

  Bloomberg A video from a drone that flew within feet of an airliner over Las Vegas and prompted outrage on the internet has spurred three influential US aviation lobbies to call for tighter regulations on hobby drones. Legislation exempting certain hobbyist drone pilots from oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration has hampered the aviation agency’s ability to oversee safety of ...

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• 14 February

  ‘Supersonic air travel is next big thing’

  

  Bloomberg Supersonic jetliner travel, which ended more than a decade ago with the Concorde, will make a comeback and transform the aviation industry in coming years, according to billionaire Richard Branson. “The next big thing, hopefully in my lifetime, will be supersonic travel coming back and people travelling around the world in next to no time,” Branson told Bloomberg Television ...

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• 14 February

  Norwegian Air CEO labels 2017 ‘a mess’

  Bloomberg Two days before Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA discloses its results for 2017, Chief Executive Officer Bjorn Kjos has called the year “a mess” for the carrier after it was hit by plane and pilot shortages at the height of summer. Norwegian was forced to ground more than 10 Boeing Co. 737 Max jets due to engine snags, delaying operations ...

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• 13 February

  Dewa to spend $22bn on energy projects

  

  DUBAI / Agencies Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) will spend AED81billion ($22 billion) on energy projects over the next five years, with renewables accounting for a growing share of electricity output, Chief Executive Officer Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer said. DEWA last week awarded a contract for a 815-megawatt gas turbine project in the Dubai suburb of Al Aweer to ...

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• 13 February

  Dubai trader gets first Mideast license in cryptocurrencies

  DUBAI / Reuters Gold trader Regal RA DMCC has become the first company in the Middle East to be awarded a licence by the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) to trade in cryptocurrencies. The licence allows the company to store bitcoin, ethereum and other alternatives to the best-known digital currencies in a vault located in the headquarters of the commodities ...

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• 13 February

  UAE, India sign pact for direct trade in dirham and rupee

  New Delhi / WAM The UAE and India have reached a historic agreement which will enable businesses on both sides to bypass the US Dollar or any other foreign currency and trade directly in UAE Dirhams and the Indian Rupee. The agreement will mean large savings for business communities on both sides as trade between the UAE and India soars ...

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• 13 February

  Emaar Development profit up 30%

  

  DUBAI / Emirates Business Emaar Development PJSC, the UAE build-to-sell property development business majority-owned by Emaar Properties PJSC recorded a growth in net profit during full-year (January to December) 2017 by 30 percent to AED2.74 billion ($747 million), compared to the net profit of AED2.11 billion ($575 million) in year 2016. Total revenue for FY 2017 was AED 8.86 billion ...

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• 13 February

  UAE banks eye end to $22bn Saudi debt saga

  DUBAI / Reuters Banks in the United Arab Emirates are hopeful of recovering some funds in 2018 from the multibillion-dollar collapse of Saudi Arabia’s Saad Group and Ahmad Hamad al-Gosaibi & Bros Co (AHAB) nearly a decade ago, a senior banking official told Reuters. The two conglomerates defaulted in 2009 in Saudi Arabia’s biggest financial meltdown, leaving international and regional ...

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• 13 February

  New satellite to monitor UAE, get data on environmental aspects

  

  DUBAI / WAM Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality has announced that the municipality will launch a satellite aimed at collecting data and is capable of monitoring the UAE from space. He made the announcement while speaking at the opening session of the second day of World Government Summit. Lootah said the satellite will be capable of determining different ...

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• 13 February

  Emirates NBD top banking brand in UAE

  

  DUBAI / WAM Emirates NBD on Tuesday announced its position as the UAE’s most valuable banking brand with a $3.534 billion brand valuation in The Banker’s annual brand valuation league table. The bank also secured a spot among the top 100 global banking brands, coming in seventy-first worldwide up from seventy-fifth in 2017. Emirates NBD has moved up four places ...

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