December, 2016

• 15 December

  Amazon completes its first drone delivery

  

    Washington / AFP Amazon said it completed its first delivery by drone, in what the global online giant hopes will become a trend in automated shipments by air. The delivery to a customer near Cambridge, England, was announced in a tweet by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos. “First-ever #AmazonPrimeAir customer delivery is in the books. 13 min ...

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• 15 December

  VistaJet to operate 20,000 flights

  

    DUBAI / Reuters Out-of-favour corporate jet ownership is fuelling growing demand for flights offered by business aircraft operator VistaJet, the founder and chairman of the Malta-based firm said. “The purchase of a business jet is not necessarily seen favourably by the boards or by the shareholders,” Thomas Flohr said during a visit to Dubai recently. However, executives still want ...

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• 15 December

  American Airlines fined $1.6mn for tarmac delays

    Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc. was ordered to pay $1.6 million in penalties and fines to settle charges it trapped passengers on 27 flights that were delayed for more than three hours on the ground. The penalties equal the previous record for violations of tarmac-delay regulations that Southwest Airlines Co. paid after reaching an agreement with the Department of ...

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• 15 December

  SAS to cut 1,000 jobs as fuel, competition hamper earnings

  

    Bloomberg SAS AB plans to cut 1,000 administrative jobs and double its cost-savings target as the Nordic airline prepares for rising fuel prices and intensifying competition that’s lowering fares and hampering earnings growth. Profit in the fiscal first quarter, which started Nov 1, will decline from a year earlier following “more demanding” trading conditions in the autumn autumn, Stockholm-based ...

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• 15 December

  RBS seeks EU consent for smaller Williams & Glyn sale

  

    Bloomberg Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc is seeking to sell a smaller chunk of its Williams & Glyn consumer-banking unit after failing to draw any offers for the entire operation, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The UK government, which own 72 percent of RBS, is seeking European Union approval for the sale of a smaller ...

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• 15 December

  Bank of S Korea leaves rate unchanged

  

    Seoul / AFP South Korea held its key interest rate unchanged on Thursday, despite an earlier US hike, as an ongoing political crisis tightened the reins on an already-slowing economy. In a move widely expected by analysts, the central Bank of Korea held its benchmark rate at its record-low of 1.25 percent for the sixth straight month. South Korea ...

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• 15 December

  Banks snap up zero-interest ECB loans

  

    Frankfurt am Main / AFP Eurozone banks increased uptake of zero-interest loans from the European Central Bank in December, data showed on Thursday, as part of a lending scheme to ease access to credit for households and businesses. Banks borrowed 62.2 billion euros ($65.1 billion) in total, compared with September’s figure of 45.3 billion. Subtracting some 14.2 billion euros ...

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• 15 December

  Italy’s banking problems can be solved: Juncker

  Brussels / Reuters Italy’s banking problems can be solved and the EU will do everything to help, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said, dismissing fears of something akin to the euro crisis. New Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has said his government was prepared to come to the aid of the country’s third largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena ...

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• 15 December

  Deutsche Bank holds ‘investment conference’ in KSA

    Jeddah / Emirates Business Deutsche Bank’s 2017 Market Outlook conference, titled ‘Global and Regional Investment Perspectives 2017’, the third event of its kind for Deutsche Bank in Saudi Arabia, opened at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Jeddah-Marina. The conference explored pressing macro issues affecting economies, capital markets, companies, family offices and individual investors around the Middle East & North ...

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• 15 December

  Mucha art caught in legal tangle

  

    Prague / AFP The giant Slav Epic series by Art Nouveau icon Alfons Mucha is caught in a legal tug-of-war between the city of Prague and the Czech painter’s grandson, triggered by plans to send the work on tour to Japan. Though the late artist seduced early 20th century Paris with his floral posters of actress Sarah Bernhardt, Mucha ...

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