Middle East & North Africa

For the first time around, Israel is now open to all travellers residing in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Emirates SkyCargo will be reactivating its cargo hub in Dubai South, Emirates SkyCentral DWC, for dedicated freighter aircraft operations from 26 March 2022.

SpaceChain has opened its UAE office in Abu Dhabi where it will work closely with start-ups and organisations across the region to drive new opportunities in the new space economy.

The UK Government has awarded Saudi Arabia's alfanar £2.4 million to develop its site in Tees Valley, UK.

Emirates’ customers travelling to and from select destinations in India on 17 and 18 March can enjoy festive treats that the airline will be offering on-board to mark Holi, the Indian festival of colours.

The Falcon 6X has completed cold weather testing, passing another major milestone towards certification, expected later this year.

Qatar Airways is to resume flights to London Gatwick Airport from 5 June, 2022.

Saudi Arabian group, Aviation Horizons, has broadened its interests by launching a new cargo airline.

Bahrain’s Gulf Aviation Academy has signed a new partnership agreement with Mumbai-based Aeon Software.

Emirates will be commencing daily services to Tel Aviv from 23 June 2022.

New UAE-based lessor, Sirius Aviation Capital Holdings, aims to have 100 aircraft in its portfolio three years from now.

Turkey’s TAV Airports has received the prestigious Airport Service Quality award at five of its airports; Izmir Adnan Menderes, Ankara Esenboga, Medina, Tbilisi and Skopje.

Comlux is to launch a new cross-functional organisation within the Group, Comlux Tech.

ACI EUROPE and IATA have called for all remaining COVID restrictions applying to intra-EU and Schengen area travel to be dropped.

BIRD Aerosystems has received another order for a King-Air 350 Special Mission Maritime Patrol Aircraft from an undisclosed customer.

Consolidation and increased collaboration in the wake of the pandemic is less a result of the current disruption and more an acceleration of a pre-existing trend. Chuck Grieve reviews the MRO picture.

Qatar Airways Cargo carried 190 of the world’s fastest racehorses and finest show jumping and dressage horses on its freighters over the past few weeks.

Mubadala subsidiary Sanad is to collaborate with Thales to extend industrial services for airport security, air traffic and avionics systems.

Rolls-Royce has reached a key milestone in its UltraFan technology demonstrator programme as the power gearbox (PGB) is dispatched from the company’s site in Germany.

Gulf Air has started its countdown to be the title sponsor of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022, which will take place between 18-20 March 2022.

IATA announced that the recovery in air travel slowed for both domestic and international in January 2022 compared to December 2021.

The Emirates Group has opened the region’s first and largest solar carport at a sporting facility.

Dnata has been appointed to manage easyJet’s inflight retail services across the airline’s extensive network.

The news headlines from the aerospace and defence industry across Arabia, Africa and South Asia this week, comes from World Defense Show and the Times Aerospace news studio.

Qatar Airways will resume its service to the Namibian capital, Windhoek from 25 June 2022 as part of its largest ever African schedule.