Middle East & North Africa

Dnata, part of the Emirates Group. has opened a new, state-of-the art cargo complex, Dnata City North, at Manchester Airport (MAN).

Etihad Airways will recommence passenger flights from Abu Dhabi to Doha on 15 February 2021, subject to the applicable government approvals.

Royal Jordanian will start implementing the new measures required by the Jordanian Civil Aviation Regulatory Commission for inbound flights as of January 20th, 2021.

Airbus Helicopters has started in-flight tests on board its Flightlab, a platform-agnostic flying laboratory exclusively dedicated to maturing new technologies.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is now poised to become the first Arab state to acquire the F-35 fighter aircraft from the United States, after Washington signed an agreement to sell 50 F-35 fighter jets and up to 18 armed drones hours before Joseph Biden was sworn into office.

Qatar Airways has raised over a million US Dollars for Education Above All (EAA) Foundation’s programme, Educate A Child (EAC), during 2019 and 2020.

In 2020, Airbus Helicopters logged 289 gross orders in a challenging market heavily impacted by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flydubai will add Catania and Naples in Italy, Salzburg in Austria and Malta to its European network from May 2021.

Qatar Airways joins Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways to trial the IATA Travel Pass ‘Digital Passport’ mobile app.

The latest data analysis produced by YouGov for Reed Exhibitions, the organiser of Arabian Travel Market (ATM), has revealed that 46% of luxury travellers in the Middle East, are planning to travel internationally at some stage during 2021.

As the UAE signs a deal to procure defence equipment including 50 F-35s, 18 MQ-9s, and missiles from the US worth up to $23bn; Sai Kiran, defence analyst at GlobalData, offers his view.

Etihad Airways and MedAire, an International SOS company, has launched an advanced operational pilot for the digitalisation of pre-departure COVID-19 testing using the ICC AOKpass mobile app.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has welcomed the opening of the new terminal at Bahrain International Airport.

The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU) and Saudia have signed MoU which includes joint marketing and promotional activity.

Jazeera Airways has launched a new service to the Sri Lankan capital, offering direct flights between Kuwait and Colombo twice a week.

Airbus will showcase a range of technologies, capabilities and solutions from Airbus Defence and Space and Airbus Helicopters at the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX) 2021.

Despite shrinking to its lowest point of under 400 aircraft during the pandemic, the in-service fleet size in the Middle East is forecasted to reach more than 2,300 by 2031, according to Oliver Wyman’s latest fleet and MRO forecast.

Etihad Cargo has signed a five-year MoU with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) to support its Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative.

Etihad Airways has partnered with local designers to upcycle obsolete aircraft cabin interiors into pieces of art, as an environmentally friendly alternative of dealing with waste.

EDGE, the UAE’s technology group for defence and beyond, has signed a tri-party strategic cooperation agreement with Ukrainian state-owned defence conglomerate UkrOboronProm, and Ukrspecexport, a Ukrainian state-owned arms trading company.

Bell has announced its acquisition of Response Technologies , a composite solutions company.

Oman Air has achieved IATA’s Center of Excellence for Independent Validators for ‘Fresh’ Logistics (CEIV Fresh), the airline industry’s leading certification for safeguarding the integrity of perishable goods across the supply chain.

Etihad Airways and Gulf Air have signed a Strategic Commercial Cooperation Agreement (SCCA) to deepen their partnership between Abu Dhabi and Bahrain and beyond the respective hubs.

Emirates SkyCargo has signed an agreement with UNICEF to prioritise the transport of COVID-19 vaccines, essential medicines, medical devices and other critical supplies to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saudi Ground Services (SGS), the national ground services company in Saudi Arabia, operating in 28 airports across the country, has chosen Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to migrate its IT services locally.