Directors from three of the airports within the Northern Emirates set out expansion plans at the UAE’s inaugural Aviation Investment Summit held in Dubai on Monday.
Heads from Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Fujairah airports also courted investment from the international community to help boost their offerings in services such as MRO (maintenance, repairs and operations), cargo handling and personnel training.
Donald D’Souza, commercial director of Sharjah International Airport, said that it is seeking investors to help expand all areas of its operations, including new passenger and cargo terminal facilities. Passenger numbers are expected to hit 9.6 million at Sharjah this year, up from 6.3 million in 2010. Moreover, current growth projections will result in this increasing to 11.3 million by 2019.
“The demand is incessant,” he said. “It’s a good problem to have, but there’s a lot of investment and a lot of capex involved in keeping this growing. Our present capacity is not good enough to cope with this.”
The airport appointed the construction company Bechtel to draw up a new master plan for a phased expansion of the airport last year, and a new Dh500 million runway opened last year capable of handling Airbus A380s and major cargo planes.
“We’re happy to talk to any entities who want to share in this success – both passenger and cargo. The vehicle of this investment could be which ever that would suit you, be it a build, operate, transfer, be it a JV [joint venture] concept or a PPP [public private partnership] for the passenger terminal. We’re willing to look at all options,” Mr D’Souza said.
Meanwhile, the Ras Al Khaimah Airport chief executive Mohammed Qazi said the fourth phase of its expansion of passenger terminals – a new building linking the departure and arrival terminals – is set to complete in the first quarter of 2016, as will a new terminal being developed in conjunction with cargo partner SKA Group. Designs have also recently been completed for a new VIP terminal, scheduled to be built by the first quarter of 2017.
Mr Qazi said that aircraft movements at the airport increased by 65 per cent last year and passenger movements were 78 per cent higher. Cargo volumes increased by 220 per cent.
Davor Jurisic, Dubai-based SKA Group’s director of logistics, said it had built a major fuel terminal at RAK airport which was commissioned last year and is currently in the process of refurbishing existing cargo buildings, in a project involving 1,000 square metres of temperature-controlled cargo buildings.
“In the long term, our strategy is to build a 10,000 sq metre cargo centre,” Mr Jurisic said.
He added that it planned a series of other facilities at the airport, which “will probably become our largest investment in the Middle East and North Africa over the next few years”.
Meanwhile, Charles Hajdu, the acting general manager of Fujairah Airport, said that it was focusing on attracting cargo and MRO operators for its growth, especially those looking to service the nearby Indian market.
“We’re concentrating on India and bringing that business to the UAE, because they recognise they can carry out that business in the UAE more easily than in India,” he said. “There are financial and regulatory issues [in India] that make it quite difficult from a bureaucratic point of view.”
Fujairah Airport currently operates from a single runway, but is in the process of building a new taxiway that will serve as a contingency runway.
“This is in construction right now. It is part of a fairly major investment indicating a great deal of confidence in the future,” said Mr Hajdu.
Once complete, this will allow the airport to close its existing, 30-year-old runway to allow for resurfacing and widening, he added.
It will also lengthen a section to move take-off paths farther away from nearby mountains to allow for improved performance by way of allowing bigger payloads.
mfahy@thenational.ae
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Director: Laila Abbas
Starring: Yasmine Al Massri, Clara Khoury, Kamel El Basha, Ashraf Barhoum
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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A%20QUIET%20PLACE
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TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
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If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
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Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club
- 1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
- 2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
- 3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
- 4th ODI, Sunday, April 16
Squads:
- UAE: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
- Zimbabwe: Peter Moor (captain), Solomon Mire, Brian Chari, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Craig Ervine, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Tony Munyonga, Elton Chigumbura
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
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MATCH INFO
Fixture: Thailand v UAE, Tuesday, 4pm (UAE)
TV: Abu Dhabi Sports
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
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