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Emirates adds A380 aircrafts to Brisbane route
Emirates has announced that Brisbane will be the third Australian destination to be served by its doubledecker A380 planes.The airline already operates such services to Sydney and Melbourne and this latest announcement will ensure even more people can travel between Dubai and Australia.It will open up an extra 135 seats per flight – the equivalent of 1,890 a week – and the service will also go on to Auckland in New Zealand.Salem Obaidalla, Emirates' senior vice president of commercial operations in the Far East and Australasia, said the firm is the first to bring this revolutionary aircraft to the Queensland-based airport.He added that the decision to enhance services on this particular route was made on the back of rising demand for travel between Australia/New Zealand and the UAE.”The Dubai-Brisbane-Auckland route is a popular choice among business and leisure travellers alike and the new Emirates A380 service will be instrumental in helping Emirates meet its passenger demand as well as deliver considerable economic benefits through inbound seats and travel connections,” he remarked.Mr Obaidalla said Australia is an important market for Emirates and the country is in the top three countries on the carrier's international network.The new A380 offering will launch in October 2013 and by then the company will be providing six daily A380 services between Dubai and Australia.Emirates only started to offer A380 flights in 2008, but since then it has carried 14 million passengers on 35,000 trips around the world.The firm recently secured a deal with prominent Australian airline Qantas, which will further help to connect the two countries.Earlier this week (May 13th), the pair announced that New Zealand's minister for transport had approved the agreement. This is important, as Emirates is keen to increase its presence in New Zealand.President of Emirates Tim Clark labelled the organisation's relationship with Qantas as a “game-changing partnership” that brings together two of the world's leading carriers. Continue reading
Dates confirmed for inaugural Dubai Tour
Organisers of the highly anticipated Dubai Tour have confirmed the four-day cycling race will take place between February 5th and 8th 2014.Dubai Sports Council (DSC) has joined forces with Italian firm RCS Sport to stage the competition and it will be the first event of its kind to be held in the UAE.Although the plans still need to be approved by the International Cycling Union, it is fair to assume that some of the world's finest cyclists will be competing in the Gulf next year.RCS Sport certainly has a fantastic pedigree when it comes to laying on prestigious races, as it is the brains behind the Giro d'Italia – cycling's second biggest race (after the Tour de France).Michele Acquarone – chief executive officer at the company – thanked the DSC for its support.”We are proud and pleased with the agreement reached with the DSC for organising the Dubai Tour. This milestone is in line with the strategy of RCS Sport to extend more and more its scope of operations into new international markets,” he remarked.Although it is the youngest race on the world circuit, Mr Acquarone is confident that it will quickly establish itself as the best in the region. Cycling has become increasingly popular across the globe, with events like the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia attracting millions of TV viewers.This is the latest example of how Dubai is steadily attracting more and more world-class sporting events.The city is set to host part of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in October and November 2013 and the emirate has also staged a leg of golf's European Tour.In addition to this, some of the world's finest tennis players head to the Gulf each year to take part in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.World number one Novak Djokovic emerged victorious in this year's event – overcoming Tomas Berdych in the final – and he was full of praise for the excellent organisation that goes into the tournament. Continue reading
Small Middle Eastern businesses are performing well
Family businesses based in the Middle East performed very well last year, despite the fact the global economy is still far from stable.A new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed that 83 per cent of small enterprises based in this part of the world reported a rise in sales. This was much higher than the global average, which stood at just 65 per cent.Confidence is high among start-up organisations in places like Dubai, with 23 per cent of firms planning “aggressive growth” in the next five years. Only nine per cent thought they would struggle in the near future.PwC's Family Business Survey also showed that women are having a greater influence in smaller companies across the Middle East.The main challenges facing businesses of this nature are family politics, succession planning and the recruitment of skilled staff, the report discovered.That said, Amin Nasser, partner and private clients leader at PwC Middle East, thinks the future is bright for entrepreneurs in the Gulf.”Our survey clearly shows that family businesses in the Middle East will continue growing significantly,” he remarked.”Compared with the rest of the world, family businesses in the Middle East are less fazed by the general economic situation. This has created a strong framework for family businesses to continue targeting ambitious goals, bringing stability to a balanced economy.”The UAE has become a major international corporate hub in the past few decades and a multitude of blue chip companies have set up bases in Dubai.Earlier this year, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum – ruler of Dubai and vice president/prime minister of the UAE – said the city was looking to become the world's leading Islamic business centre.The Islamic finance sector has grown in stature over the years and is now one of the most lucrative industries on the planet. The emirate could set up a central sharia board, which will oversee all Islamic financial products used in Dubai. Continue reading
