It's fairly easy to travel around the world from the Middle East these days, especially with the region's major carriers making new alliances. However, there is one hidden gem that connects Australasia with the US that may not be on the tip of your tongue, yet. The announcement in April of an interline agreement between Etihad and Fiji Airways means that now, more than ever, you have a reason to stop over in the South Pacific during a longhaul business trip.
Fiji Airways’ new A330 aircraft offers an excellent business class cabin, which is light years ahead of Air Pacific’s (as it was formerly known) crumbling 747s. The new aircraft, new branding and new destinations make this airline a still relatively undiscovered carrier that should not be overlooked.
The airline offers flights from LAX, Sydney and Hong Kong to Nadi International Airport, Fiji’s main airport, and offers the opportunity to stop over in relative luxury in a variety of the 300 islands of Fiji. On boarding the new planes, you immediately notice the cool, calm interiors in muted earthy tones. Crisp white leather and traditional Fijian pattern prints adorn the cabin, and the seats, which are the same as Singapore Airlines’ regional business class seats.
With a small cabin of just 24 seats, the service is intimate, friendly and professional, and I was constantly offered hot towels, beverages and a variety of excellent tasty local dishes. The seat itself almost reclines flat, and even considering today’s standards of fully flat beds, they offer a comfortable sleep on what are mainly overnight flights with the carrier.
While the in-flight entertainment is fairly limited, it is good enough. The screens are large and the accompanying noise-cancelling headsets some of the best I have experienced in a long while. The airline has really lifted its game, and is one of the best boutique airlines around the world.
Thanks to codeshares with Cathay, Qantas, Air New Zealand, American and now a closer relationship with Etihad, the airline can be utilised on a variety of around-the-world business itineraries. Instead of the usual direct flights from Hong Kong or Sydney to LAX, why not stop off in a little bit of Pacific paradise?
What is the seat comfort like on the Fiji A330?
Surprisingly, it was excellent with great seat pitch and a large high-resolution screen. Each cocooned seat has generous personal space and storage compartments. With so few seats in the business class cabin, the overhead bins also offer plenty of space per passenger. The seat has 60” seat pitch and 21” seat width in a 2 x 2 x 2 configuration, and when reclined offers a comfortable bed, on which your feet sit underneath the seat in front.
What sort of food offering can you expect on board?
On the long-haul flights, expect a dinner followed by a breakfast before landing. The main meals offer a variety of western and Pacific dining options. I enjoyed a great ‘Surf and Turf’ with some of the best- tasting prawns I’ve ever sampled in the air.
So is the agreement between Fiji Airways and Etihad a fully-fledged codeshare?
Not completely, it’s more of a deal to cement ties between the two carriers. It allows each airline to sell seats for the other to ensure easier travel and booking connections for passengers. It also permits the sale from and to 12 cities in Europe, 17 in the Middle East, five each in Africa and North America, 29 in Asia and three in Australia – to and from Fiji.
Will the airline be offering any new routes?
Not for a while, although the award-winning carrier has just ordered new planes, meaning with a larger fleet new destinations are likely to be just around the corner. But with a variety of airline partners, there is a variety of code-shared routes and air-mile earning opportunities.
How much does it cost to fly from the UAE to Fiji?
A business class round trip from Abu Dhabi to Fiji’s Nadi International Airport will cost around Dh31,000.
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The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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