China's heavy handed Hong Kong celebrations

29 June 2007

On Sunday night, in the biggest and costliest extravaganza in its history, Hong Kong will launch 31,888 fireworks shells into the air above Victoria Harbour to mark the 10th anniversary of its handover to Chinese control.

But this will be a very Chinese firework display. Beginning with a scene called "Salute to the Motherland," the million gala will reach a climax with a dramatic display of three huge Chinese characters spelling out a phrase meaning "Chinese people."

Just in case any doubts remain afterward, Hong Kong is organizing more than 450 other events to mark the anniversary, including Chinese art exhibits, Chinese ballet dancers, Chinese dinosaurs in the museum, Chinese pandas in the zoo, Chinese pop singers, Chinese military performances, and even a "wonderful decade" essay-writing contest in which students can express their pride in China's takeover of the former British colony.

Hong Kong's politicians and bureaucrats are jostling to proclaim the most lavish praise of "the motherland" — the new politically correct term for China. "It has been 10 years since Hong Kong's reunification with the motherland," Ambrose Lee, the secretary for sycophants and security, said in a typical speech this month. "Now we live and work in peace and contentment."

Yet the majority of Hong Kong's people still do not see themselves as primarily Chinese. Opinion polls confirm that most of the territory's 7 million residents label themselves "Hong Kongers" or "Hong Kong Chinese" — a unique identity. One recent poll found that 53 per cent saw themselves as Hong Kongers; only 34 per cent defined themselves as Chinese, about 6 percentage points higher than in a similar poll in 1998.

Perhaps the one issue that has not change in ten years is the wish for autonomy and the search for an identity that will keep Hong Kong distinct from the dozens of similarly sized Chinese cities on the mainland. The territory's residents are more active in asserting their right to influence the shape of their city.

Salik shambles

28 June 2007

On 1 July 2007 Dubai will introduce its first road usage tax with the arrival of the Salik system on Shelik Zayed road. The AED4 tax will be charged at two points on the road - by the Garhoud bridge and after the Mall of the Emirates.

Predictably the implementation of the tax is not welcome among Dubai's tax-free population; the problems are enhanced by an over hasty implementation.

One concern is the lack of viable alternatives to the road until alternative routes and the new metro network are completed.

In addition drivers protest that the four-dirham ($1.08) levy is too high for a majority of workers, already facing rampant inflation, which hit 9.3 percent in 2006. The cost of rental housing has more than doubled in the past two years. For an average low-middle income earner of around 5,000 dirhams ($1,360) a month, who commutes between the relatively cheaper northern emirate of Sharjah to Dubai's southern industrial zone, the toll road means an extra monthly expense of around 400 dirhams ($110).

Salik, expected to generate annual revenues of 600 million dirhams ($163 million), could effectively wipe out workers' small savings or remittances to families in poor countries.

"It is a tax ... A money-raising scheme," said a Dubai-based economist who did not think that Salik would help effectively in reducing traffic, but would increase the financial burden on workers. "Increasingly you hear of cases of people becoming unwilling to come to Dubai" due to the increasing cost of living, she added, requesting anonymity. The government says the tollgates on the Garhoud Bridge over Dubai's Creek and at the southern end of the extremely busy 25-km stretch of road aim to reduce congestion.

Until a few years ago, this stretch of road, was considered an out-of-town highway. It is now a main street in the middle of the ever-growing city-state, flanked by hundreds of office and residential towers and hotels. "Dubai's road toll system will help reduce traffic by 25 per cent on the toll roads and encourage motorists to use alternative roads and public transport," Traffic and Roads Agency (RTA) chief Maitha Obaid bin Udai said in May.

The trouble is that many of the alternative routes are already too busy. A 13-lane bridge over the creek was recently opened with a floating bridge being constructed further along to raise the number of crossing passages to five, while the Emirates Road bypass is being widened from six to 12 lanes. Most of the alternative routes proposed by RTA to ease congestion on the artery road are already crowded, with roads having to cope with more than a million registered cars.

Many believe the move's real aim is to tax people. The tax applies 24 hours, 7 days a week. So even off peak journeys in the middle of the night pay the toll charge. This actually makes little sense. A staggered toll where higher fees are paid during rush hours would be more likely to change driving patterns.

The over hasty implementation has caused great confusion. Garages and banks that are selling the Salik starter pack require a copy of your car registration. Some are asking for further id. The car rental companies have not yet received their Salik cards. There is a significant shortage and the their will be disputes with the rental companies over liability for fines after the 1 July start date if the rental companies have not distributed the salik cards by this date. 

The economy of Dubai has been growing at an impressive double-digit rate since 2000, thriving in an environment free of corporate and personal income tax. But indirect taxation, like council taxes, is already in place, and sales or value-added tax is expected to be introduced in the near future. There will be more road taxes and a sales tax is not so far away.

Hong Kong - the great survivor

25 June 2007

At the end of this month there will be celebrations across Hong Kong to mark 10 years since the return of Hong Kong from Britain to China.

Ten years ago I was in Hong Kong; the handover was a solemn and formal affair. It rained. And it rained. There were parties across the city. The British left with pomp and ceremony. The Last Night of the Proms came to Hong Kong and it felt incredibly appropriate. There was huge uncertainty about how Hong Kong would adapt to Chinese rule.

But ten years on Hong Kong's incredible knack for evolving, reinventing itself has confounded the doubters despite a number of crises along the way.

The troubles began on the first day of Chinese rule when Thailand's tumbling currency triggered an Asian financial meltdown that spread from country to country. Hong Kong's stock market plummeted by 60 percent. Unemployment nearly tripled to 6 percent by the end of 1998. Homes lost half of their value. Confidence disappeared from Hong Kong.

Then the city recorded the first known cases of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in humans. It killed six people and prompted the government to slaughter the entire poultry population.

A few years later, a mysterious virus crossed the border from China and turned Hong Kong into the epicenter of what became known as SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome — which killed nearly 300 people in the territory.

Tourism shriveled and the economy again slipped into recession. The streets were empty. The new airport almost closed down.

As Hong Kong was recovering from the SARS crisis, the government began pushing an anti-subversion bill which many feared would threaten civil liberties. On July 1, 2003, the sixth anniversary of the handover, a staggering 500,000 people rallied in protest.

Compounding their anger was a sense that the government had bungled the SARS crisis and was dragging its feet on democratic reforms. The massive rally rattled Beijing and Hong Kong's chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa.

Two years later Tung resigned, citing failing health. The city celebrated. Tung had been too cautious, too deferential to Beijing, too out of touch with the people. It was widely believed China had lost confidence in the man it handpicked for the job, and preferred Donald Tsang, a savvy veteran administrator trusted by the people. In March, he was selected to serve a new term by an 800-seat election committee loaded with members loyal to Beijing.

Democracy has not come to Hong Kong. There is self censorship in the business savvy media. Owners, concerned for their investments in China, make their publications censor themselves.

Yet for all the crises along the way ten years after the return to Chinese rule, can-do optimism has once again brought Hong Kong roaring back to success.

For the visitor, much in Hong Kong has changed. There are the physical aspects, of course: the skyline has risen; the old Star Ferry terminal on Hong Kong Island's harbour front has been ripped down; the Peak Tower, which on those few clear clear days gives panoramic views over the city, has been revamped. But the most significant shift is that Hong Kong's tourists are now for the most part Chinese.

In 1997, 2.3 million visitors arrived from the mainland; last year that figure hit 13.5 million, constituting more than half of total visitor arrivals to the Special Administrative Region (SAR). And the mainlanders are spending.

Walk into any of the designer clothes stores in the glitzy malls of the International Finance Centre and Pacific Place, and you'll hear the shop assistants conversing with their customers in Mandarin. The people of Hong Kong have become trilingual. Mandarin is now as important a second language as English.

At Disneyland in Hong Kong, which opened in 2005, adult Chinese mainlanders queue to spin around in giant plastic tea cups. Ocean Park, which has offered rides and wildlife attractions for three decades, began an ambitious redevelopment last year; many of its customers, too, are mainland Chinese.

Hong Kong's restaurant industry always a great indicator of the state of the economy has discovered Sino-chic. Just last month, the ultra-stylish Yun Fu opened in Wyndham Street. Its decor recalls an ancient Chinese mansion house; its menu features the cuisine of China's ethnic minorities.

Across the harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hutong serves northern Chinese food with a contemporary twist among its bamboo screens and billowing silk curtains.

There is also a sense that health and quality of life are new priorities. Hong Kong is more than about money making. That is a significant change. Perhaps Hong Kong is now the ultimate fusion of east and west, of old and new; a British legacy on which a dynamic and vibrant Chinese city thrives. The people of Hong Kong think of themselves as Hong Kong Chinese. There is great civic pride; even among the new Chinese migrants into Hong Kong. It is that sense of identity that will always make Hong Kong unique and that will ensure its prosperous survival.

Britain's declining influence in Hong Kong

25 June 2007

One sign of the times is that no British Minister has been invited to join in the ten year celebrations. The message is clear. British political interference is not welcome. There is still tension over the lack of progress towards a democratic Hong Kong. Chris Patten, Hong Kong's last Governor said recently, that "everyone knows sooner or later Hong Kong people will run Hong Kong through the ballot box and the sooner that happens the better," in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

"I think the dragging of feet over the implementation of the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law is unfortunate," he added, referring to agreements reached over Hong Kong's future after handover.

Hong Kong's political leaders are selected by a small group of 800 Beijing loyalists. Only half the territory's 60 legislators are chosen by direct election.

It was Margaret Thatcher who negotiated the handover with Beijing in 1982. She recently voiced her regrets about the "impossible" situation Britain faced in the handover. She had tried to persuade China's late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to let Britain extend its lease on parts of the colony.

When this proved impossible, she agreed to China's proposal of one country two systems -- but admitted that she still has misgivings about the deal, under which Hong Kong retains a large degree of autonomy. 

Hong Kong remains a major British trading partner. But the political influence is long gone and the snub is clear and intended.

Beach police make a fair cop

23 June 2007

The big news out of Dubai today is the remarkable arrest rate of Dubai's beach cops. Remember that there are only two small public beaches in Dubai. And then think about the fact that 1,462 people have been arrested on the beach between 13 May and 16 June. That is about 50 a day!

The arrests have been part of a crack down against people harassing or taking secret snapshots of female beachgoers.

Swimming in unsuitable clothes is also an arrestable and common offence. Such vigilence!

Independently I am also told that such offences are so common at the Wild Wadi Water theme park that women are best advised not to even go there.

This harassment occurs over the city. A single woman walking in the malls should expect to be propositioned by men, individually or collectively. Weekends are particularly bad. Better to know what to expect. This can be a grimy city.

Emirates adds to India flights

22 June 2007

As a result of the revised bilateral between India and Dubai, Emirates will increase frequencies and aircraft size on its Indian services.

New Destination: Ahmedabad (AMD)
Effective 28 October, Emirates will commence 6x weekly flights to Ahmedabad (AMD). Flight timings (Daily ex-Tue):

EK538 DEP DXB 2255 ARR AMD 0310
EK539 DEP AMD 0425 ARR DXB 0610

Flights will be operated by A330-200 on Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sun. The Saturday flight will be operated by a B777-200.

Other highlights:

DXB-BOM moves upto a 3x daily from 19x weekly. Also aircraft size is increased to a B777-300ER on most flights, with the B777-200ER operating a few.

DXB-MAA moves upto a double-daily from 8x weekly.

DXB-HYD moves upto 11x weekly from 8x weekly.

DXB-COK moves upto a 10x weekly from 7x weekly.

The additional frequencies will be phased in over the next few months and most increases implemented by the end of October 2007.

Although there are no increases on DEL services, the new agreement will permit capacity increases from the start of the summer 2008 schedule (end of March 2008) and beginning of July 2008. expect DEL to move up to 10x weekly from end of March 2008 and then up to a double-daily by beginning of July 2008.

Entitlements on the other India routes (TRV, CCU and BLR) remained unchanged. Remember, Emirates will add a 6th weekly to CCU from beginning of February 2008.

The frequency increases and new flights to AMD have been clearly well timed to connect with Emirates' new North American services - IAH and YYZ as well as existing JFK flights.

The Orlando of the Gulf

22 June 2007

Source: AFP

Widely touted as the Middle East's very own Orlando, Dubailand, a cluster of mega-billion-dollar projects, is gradually emerging across the desert sands of the booming Gulf emirate.

Faced with a dwindling wealth of oil, Dubai has taken on a new challenge of larger-than-life projects in line with its ambition to become the region's main business and leisure hub.

Already primed as a holiday destination, it is fast executing plans to build a host of new hotels, golf courses, malls and leisure facilities in order to more than double the number of tourists to 15 million by 2015.

Initially planned to cover an area of two billion square feet (185 square kilometres), Dubailand, billed as the "world's most ambitious tourism, leisure and entertainment project," is expected to be a sprawling three billion square feet. This would make it larger than the entire city of Orlando, Florida -- home to Walt Disney World, Universal Resort, Sea World and a variety of other attractions and hotels.

"Dubailand is going to be a city within a city," said Mohammed al-Habbai, chief executive officer of Dubailand, a subsidiary of the government-owned Tatweer.

"We are very confident in what we are doing," he told AFP. "I would say that most of our projects are on time."

Western-oriented Dubai's bid to position itself on the world tourism map has propelled it way ahead of its oil-rich conservative Gulf neighbours.

It already prides itself on the sail-shaped Burj Al-Arab hotel and building three palm-tree shaped islands off the coast, where the ambitious island project in the shape of a world map has fast become yet another landmark.

On Monday, Dubai also announced its 100-million-dollar purchase of the Queen Elizabeth 2, one of the world's most majestic cruise liners, which it plans to turn it into a luxury floating hotel berthed at one of the palm islands.

A model version of Dubailand still shows its vast barren surroundings, which in three years time will be awash with even more golf courses, theme parks, mega-malls and residential towers.

"This area will definitely be completely different by 2010," when three million visitors a year are expected to Dubailand alone, said Habbai.

The entire 24-project venture, not scheduled for completion before 2025, is estimated to cost 235 billion dirhams (64 billion dollars, 48 billion euros), 60 percent of which is expected to come from private investors.

This does not even include the mammoth 'Bawadi' project, announced in 2006 as the world's largest hospitality and leisure development consisting of more than 50 themed hotels with 60,000 rooms, almost double the number currently available in Dubai.

In May, the emirate's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, seen as the driving force behind Dubai's phenomenal economic growth, announced doubling the value of Bawadi to 54 billion dollars.

One of its hotels, AsiaAsia, tipped to be world's largest with 6,500 rooms, will be developed by Tatweer, with 45 percent of Bawadi already agreed upon with private investors, Habbai said.

Tatweer is part of Dubai Holding, a conglomerate owned by the government of Dubai which oversees mega-projects in the emirate, currently experiencing a burgeoning property boom.

In the throes of constructing the world's highest building, whose ultimate height remains a closely-guarded secret, Dubai also plans to house a Great Wheel, whose size will rival that of the London Eye observation wheel.

Dubailand will also house the world's largest transparent snow dome and a Universal Studio theme park, announced in March by Tatweer.

The latter will be part of a 2.2-billion-dollar Universal City Dubai, comprising 4,000 hotel rooms and some 100 restaurants.

Along with Tiger Woods Dubai -- a 25-million-square-foot golf course and community featuring palaces and mansions by September 2009 -- Universal City will be the only Dubailand projects funded by Tatweer.

Taking it one step further, the Falcon City of Wonders will boast replicas of the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Aqua Dunya is also expected to be one of the world's largest water parks.

Several stadiums are being constructed in Dubailand's Sports City and a comprehensive Motor City is taking shape around the currently operational Dubai Autodrome.

Despite the frenetic expansion, Habbai dismissed fears of saturation in the market, which currently faces a hotel room shortage in peak periods.

"Dubailand is going to create a new segment in the market for leisure and entertainment," now mainly focused on beach and shopping holidays, he said.

Grandiose shopping malls are also well in the making in Dubai, a member of the seven-strong United Arab Emirates.

Tatweer announced in May a 2.7-billion-dollar deal with Al-Ghurair Investment to develop a four-million-square-foot mall in the Bawadi retail zone.

And the Mall of Arabia, expected to open its first phase in early 2009, aims to extend to become the world's largest at 10 million square feet.

The Gulf's major airlines continue to flourish

22 June 2007

Source Gulf News

The Gulf may be one of the hottest economic zones in the world, but the expansion plans of the region's government-owned long-haul carriers still raise the odd eyebrow.

How, sceptics wonder, can such a small region accommodate three long-haul carriers - Dubai's Emirates, Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways - all located within 250 miles of one another? The short answer is cash - and lots of it.

Emirates is now profitable, Etihad and Qatar Airways hope to make money by 2010.

But in the longer term, observers argue that Etihad and Emirates - whose bases in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively, are as close as Heathrow and Stansted - can only eat into each other's international long-haul business, especially when Qatar Airways and Bahrain's Gulf Air are added to the equation.

The governments and managers behind these fast-growing airlines argue that the natural growth of their home economies - 16 per cent last year in Dubai - fuels these airlines' development.

In a symbiotic turn, these airlines also help their home economies grow.

James Hogan, chief executive of Etihad, says the situation in the Gulf mirrors the European hubs, where London, Paris and Amsterdam developed into long-haul nodes despite their close proximity. The huge Middle East and south Asian markets will help the Gulf to assume the same role, he argues.

"Look at my catchment area: it's the same population size as China," he says.

Hogan adds that the long-distance capabilities of new aircraft provide the ideal opportunity for grabbing international long-haul business, rather like the Asian hubs did years ago on Australian routes.

In Doha, Qatar Airways, too, sees long-haul growth as central to its strategy. It is planning to double its fleet to more than 110 by 2015, as it ramps up its portfolio of 75 destinations.

In Dubai, Emirates has an an order book of $30 billion and plans for another 40-50 destinations.

The Americas and Africa are at the forefront of plans to increase the 104-strong fleet.

The middle of next year will signal another growth spurt for the airline, with the arrival of the first delayed A380s and the completion of the first part of new terminals at Dubai airport.

Political dynamic

Extra Boeing 777ERs - arriving at a rate of one or two a month - will meet some of the capacity shortfall expected from the delayed A380s, which have set back Emirates' plans by two years, says Tim Clark, Emirates' president.

Emirates also hopes to capitalise on travel associated with an emerging political dynamic: China and Africa. "The Chinese are swamping Africa," Clark says. He notes that when he returned home to Dubai on the second Beijing-Dubai flight last year, most of the passengers were en route to Africa.

The airline plans to raise the number of Chinese destinations beyond Beijing and Shanghai to five, while also increasing the airline's portfolio of 10 routes into Africa.

Hogan at Etihad is now concentrating on consolidating the rapid growth of the airline's first four years. The route roster of 42 will grow to include new destinations such as Dublin and Milan, while his fleet will almost double from 26 to around 50 in the next five years, he says.

Some of this will be used to boost the frequency of short-haul flights by purchasing Airbus A319s, A320s, or Boeing 737s. Local traffic provides another opportunity, set to see double-digit growth for years to come, according to a recent report from the Centre for Pacific Aviation.

The value of intra-Middle East travel and short-haul connections to growing south Asian markets could persuade other operators to open hubs in the Gulf.

The rise of the regional low-cost carrier has certainly made Emirates sit up and notice, but despite the arrival of Etihad and no-frills carriers such as Sharjah's Air Arabia and Kuwait's Al Jazeera, the airline's seat factor has remained constant at 90 per cent, says Clark.

Emirates has no plans to launch a budget airline from Dubai, but Clark remains convinced by the low-cost model. Emirates encouraged officials to build a low-cost terminal at Dubai's new airport in the western industrial zone of Jebel Ali, which is scheduled for completion in 2008. It will be 10 times larger than Dubai's existing airport.

The Dubai airline also applied for a Saudi licence, which eventually went to new Saudi-owned low-cost carriers, Sama and NAS.

The joint venture with Saudi prince Al Waleed Bin Talal was to be a 60-aircraft airline called Burj, but failed to get off the ground. "I think they were afraid of Emirates coming into their market," says Clark.

Emirates Airline and Group

       Dubai-based Emirates airline and Group is chaired by Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum. President of Emirates is Tim Clark .

       When the airline took off on October, 25, 1985, its fledgling fleet comprised just two leased aircraft - a Boeing 737 and an Airbus 300 B4.

       Wholly owned by the Government of Dubai, it now employs 30,000 people.

       For the financial year ending March 31, 2007, the Emirates Group announced record net profits of Dh3.5 billion ($942 million). Total group revenue increased by an impressive 28.8 per cent, to Dh31.3 billion ($8.5 billion) compared to Dh24.2 billion ($6.6 billion) the previous year.

       The group's portfolio includes the highly-decorated Emirates Airline, an international cargo division, a destination and leisure management division, an international ground handler and an airline IT developer. Its units have been showered with more than 300 international awards.

       In 2003, Emirates announced the largest aviation orderin history. A staggering 71 new aircraft - a mix of Airbusand Boeing - were requested to join the rapidlyexpanding fleet.

       In 2005, Emirates announced the largest ever order for the Boeing 777 family of aircraft - 42 in all - in a deal worth Dh35.7 billion ($9.7 billion) at list prices.

       The airline also has 47 of the gigantic A380 double-decker super-jumbos on order, scheduled for delivery starting August 2008.

       Emirates' order book stood at 107 aircraft, with a total value of more than $30 billion, before this week's order of eight more A380 at additional $2.6 billion, which will be delivered starting July 2011.

       Currently, more than 50 per cent of all flight movements in and out of Dubai International Airport are Emirates aircraft. By 2010, that figure is expected to rise to 70 per cent.

       Emirates' route portfolio of 89 destinations in 59 countries is fast expanding. Four new routes - Houston, Venice, Newcastle and Sao Paulo - are being added to the network in 2007.

       In the 2006/07 financial year, Emirates carried 17.5 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo, using one of the most modern fleets in the world. The average aircraft age is 63 months.

Source: Emirates.com

Qatar Airways

       Doha-based Qatar Airways was launched in January 1994, its chief executive officer is Akbar Al Baker.

       It is owned by the government of Qatar (50 per cent) and private shareholders (50 per cent).

       It is one of the fastest-growing airlines in the world flying to 75 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East with a modern fleet of 58 all-Airbus aircraft.

       The airline is one of only five in the world with a five star ranking for service and excellence awarded by Skytrax, the independent aviation industry monitoring agency.

       Skytrax also named Qatar Airways' cabin crew as the best in the Middle East for the fourth year running in 2006 and second best worldwide following a survey of more than 12 million passengers.

       Qatar Airways is the largest all-Airbus operator in the Middle East and one of the world's leading airlines, with a fleet that comprises aircraft from the A320, A300/A310 and A330/A340 families.

       Qatar Airways plans to acquire 22 Boeing 777s, with deliveries of the latter beginning in November 2007.

       The airline is a launch customer of the twin-deck Airbus A380 'super jumbos' with five aircraft on order and scheduled for delivery from 2009 in addition to three A330-200s, four A330-300s and six A340-600s.

       Qatar Airways ordered 80 of the all-newAirbus A350 XWB aircraft and also placed an order for a further three A380s. The agreement was signed this week at the 47th InternationalParis Air Show.

       The airline employs 8,000 people, in addition to 4,000 in its subsidiaries.

       Qatar Airways achieves 35 per cent growth in passenger numbers each year and is on track to fly 12 million people in 2009, when the New Doha International Airport opens. It carried six million passengers in 2006, and expects the number to reach eight million this year.

Source: Qatar Airways

Etihad Airways

       Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saif Al Nahyan is chairman of Etihad Airways, James Hogan is the airline’s CEO since 2006.

       Etihad Airways is the national carrier of the UAE. It was established in July 2003 with a capital of Dh500 million ($136.2 million), represented by 500 million shares of Dh1 each — all currently owned by the Abu Dhabi government.

       Etihad is based in Abu Dhabi. The first scheduled flight took off from the capital to Beirut on November 12, 2003.

       Since the inaugural flight, the Abu Dhabi-based airline has increased its number of destinations prolifically, adding at least one route each month.     The carrier currently flies to 43 destinations across Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and North America.

       Etihad Airways carried 1,031,837 passengers in the first quarter of 2007, an increase of 176 per cent on the first quarter of 2006, when 373,333 passengers flew with the Abu Dhabi-based airline.

       Etihad placed a start-up order worth $8 billion for new aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show in 2004.

       During this year’s Paris Air Show, Etihad placed an order with Airbus for 12 new A340-600 and A330 aircraft worth $2.2 billion.

       Etihad’s fleet currently consists of 26 aircraft: 12 A330-200s, four A340- 500d, one A340-300, one B767-300 and five B777-300 ERs.

       Still to arrive in 2007: four A330-200 aircraft, four A340-600s and three A300-600 cargo freighter aircraft.

       Etihad Holidays was launched in May 2004, offering inbound and outbound holiday solutions.

       Etihad Crystal Cargo was launched in September 2004 and offers a network of cargo destinations on scheduled and charter flights.

QE2 heading for Dubai

19 June 2007

Launched 40 years ago the old Cunard ocean going liner, the Queen Elizabeth II, is now heading for a permanent berth attached to the Palm Jumeirah in Dubai; where it will be a hotel, museum and relic. And by the way, just about the oldest structure in Dubai!

The purchase price of US$100 million is cheap; the refurbishment and maintenance are where the real costs lie.

The QE2 will come to Dubai at the end of 2009 and will be moored to a pier at the Palm Jumeirah development - the world's largest man-made island - off the coast of Dubai, after being sold by Cunard's parent company, Carnival. The purchase is aimed at attracting more tourists and possibly rescuing the stuttering Palm development being built by Nakeel.

The purchase has been made by state-owned private equity firm Istithmar. Istithmar is the investment arm of Dubai World, which owns Nakheel and Dubai Ports World, the port operator that, bought rival P&O, a 165-year-old British company, in 2006.
 

Emirates buys even more 380s

19 June 2007

Somchai is back....

My favourite Thai detective is back in Bangkok Haunts, his third fictional adventure from John Burdett. I like Bangkok 8, the fist novel a lot; Bangkok Tattoo lost some of the momentum. But reading the novel you feel part of the city. This is the book review from The Washington Post

By Richard Lipez
WASHINGTON POST
Sunday, June 17, 2007

On my third visit to Thailand in as many months this past winter, a Thai friend greeted me on the phone with the words, "Ah, you've come back to paradise!" He was only half kidding. The famous Southeast Asian land of smiles and guiltless hedonism, as well as the most exquisite green curry on Earth, is truly enchanting for most of the 14 million-plus tourists who visit there each year. But too bad for the visitors who are unlucky enough — or reckless enough — to come in contact with the Thai criminal justice system. It is rotten to the core, as it's convincingly portrayed in John Burdett's wonderful mystery series.

It's a little hard to believe that Bangkok detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep, the appealing protagonist of "Bangkok Haunts," is the only honest cop in Thailand. Sonchai is "leuk kreung," or half-caste, the son of a former prostitute and an American GI father he never knew, which makes him a keen cultural anthropologist whose principles are as admirable as his insights are professionally useful and often deliciously droll.

"Haunts," in this third of the Sonchai series, acts as both noun and verb. Some haunts are places: the Old Man's Club, the middle-class brothel owned by Sonchai and his hard-nosed entrepreneur mom; the Parthenon Club, a Thai "HiSo" (high society) sex club for the country's "invisible men" who are normally beyond the reach of the law; and the government and capitalist aeries atop banks and other Bangkok skyscrapers — the apex of a nominally democratic society that remains in many ways stubbornly feudal.

Other "haunts" here are actually hauntings, as in the office of forensic pathologist Dr. Supatra. She proudly shows Sonchai and visiting FBI agent Kimberley Jones (introduced in "Bangkok 8," the first book in the series) her digital video recording of the ghosts that fornicate in the morgue after she has left for the night. A puzzled Jones later asks Sonchai if he believes these ghosts to be real. He replies, "Depends on what you mean by real." It's an answer that speaks volumes about the nature of reality in a society that is successfully modern — Thailand basically works — even though most Thais are animist Buddhists whose everyday lives are inhabited by ghosts and spirits that must be catered to with offerings, protective amulets and the like. When Jones labels Dr. Supatra "eccentric," Sonchai explains, "All Thais are eccentric, Kimberley. Nobody colonized us. We don't have much of a global norm to follow."

One complaint I heard in Thailand about Burdett's series is that it fixates on the grotesque. In "Bangkok 8," an aggrieved transsexual Thai murders a black American Marine with drug-crazed cobras and a giant python. If anything, "Bangkok Haunts" is even more bizarre, with ghosts on the rampage and a uniquely grisly Thai form of execution called the elephant game.

The central crime in "Bangkok Haunts" is the murder by strangulation of a prostitute whom Sonchai once was nuts about. He learns of Damrong Baker's ghastly demise from a snuff film sent to him anonymously. His quest to find the killer is complicated by obstacles thrown up by, among others, his boss, Col. Vikorn, who doesn't want any HiSo types prosecuted. He instructs Sonchai, "Don't spoil a great case with too much perfectionism." Instead, Vikorn would rather that Sonchai help him supplement his booming illegal methamphetamine business by expanding into video pornography.

Burdett's big finish this time features a deus-ex-machina rescue that's less plausible than his ghostly visitations and their shrewd psycho-cultural underpinnings. What never falter are Sonchai's captivating, sometimes teasing voice — he often addresses the reader as "farang" (the Thai word for Westerner) — and Burdett's affectionate take on everything visiting farangs find fascinatingly upside down and backward in Thailand.

There's a memorable comic scene in which an Australian with a big beer gut, who is marrying into a Thai family, sits quietly eating oysters while the women in the family enjoy a good laugh over the bride's description of the couple's necessarily acrobatic sex life. Talk of sex is open and jolly among the Thais in the Sonchai books, while an exchange between Col. Vikorn and a wealthy banker over a possible bribe is camouflaged as a discussion about the value of an antique vase. In Burdett's Thailand, euphemism is reserved for the sinister.

Richard Lipez writes detective fiction under the name Richard Stevenson.

Emirates cabin upgrade

14 June 2007

Let battle commence

12 June 2007

As the Thai military led government continues its almost paranoid need to justify its existence through the prosecution of former Prime Minister Thaksin people should not doubt that Thaksin is himself well prepared for a fight. As the following press release from his US lawyers makes clear:

The Generals' Blunder
Another junta stumbles, this time in Thailand.
Washington Post Sunday, June 10, 2007; Editorial

THAILAND'S ARMY made a serious mistake last September when it launched a coup to remove the democratically elected government of Thaksin Shinawatra. For the following nine months it has demonstrated -- again -- why rule by the military doesn't work. And now it has compounded its original error.

The generals' mistake was to think that the political turbulence caused by Mr. Thaksin, a bad prime minister who was loathed by the urban elite but beloved by Thailand's rural population, could be disposed of by sending him into exile. He duly relocated to London -- where he recently created a stir by bidding to buy a famous soccer team -- but his millions of supporters remained behind. Political uncertainty and the bumbling interim government appointed by the military have proved costly: Investment in the economy has fallen, and a Muslim insurgency in the south of the country has grown worse.

The military has promised democratic elections by the end of the year, following a referendum on a new constitution. But Mr. Thaksin's party, Thai Rak Thai, looked like it might win. That prompted the latest miscalculation: a ruling last month by a tribunal created by the military that outlawed the party and banned more than 100 of its leaders from politics for five years. The rival Democrat Party, which set the stage for the coup by disrupting Bangkok with street demonstrations, was excused from sanction.

Luckily for the generals, the tribunal decision did not immediately cause unrest. But Mr. Thaksin's supporters still have not disappeared. Some have vowed to form a new party under another name to carry on his legacy. Others may vent their disapproval of the military by voting against the constitution, which is being written by yet another unelected body. There may be good reason to do so: The draft charter includes a number of undemocratic provisions, including one that mandates a Senate not chosen by popular election.

When and if elections finally are held, there will be no way for the military to ensure against another victory by Mr. Thaksin's surrogates, if the vote is free and fair. If another party is propelled into office by manipulation, it may lack the legitimacy to restore confidence in the economy or combat the insurgency. The only way to purge Thailand of Mr. Thaksin's influence was for his policies to fail and for voters to reject them in an election. That's why the military intervention led the country into a blind alley; an exit will not be easy to find.

Emirates A380 plans

8 June 2007

Emirates to Toronto

7 June 2007

Flak for the French Consul

7 June 2007

The weekly Dubai Xpress newpspaper has taken up the cudgel to investigate the utter hopelessness of the French consul here in Dubai. There opening libe states that "the French consulate in Dubai takes the flak for manic consular procedures and the shabby treatment of visa applicatnts."

It says that while the consul only allows a maximum of 30 applications per day it in fact will only see 15 people each day.

The consulate has told applicants that they have to start to queue - which used to mean sleeping in the elevator lobby outside the consul - at 2am and even then there is no guarantee of an appointment. Apparently, an in an effort to make life even more uncomfortable the consul now requires people to stay outside the building and queue in the heat until the building opens at 6am. The consul itself wont start seeing applicants until later in the morning.

The rest of the article is an assortment of quotes from disgruntled applicants and the statement that no one from the consul was willing to talk to the newspaper despite many calls and attempted visits.

"We really dont care" is the obvious response.

Meanwhile at home Tai completed an online application to the British Consul for a visa on Tuesday and went to the Consul on Wednesday morning, picking up a two year multiple entry visa in the afternoon. Mind you at a cost of almost US$400 this is quite a profitable activity for the Brits and must discourage many applicants.

AED movement predicted

7 June 2007

Note to self and others - if your need AED and your finances are mainly held in US$ it may be useful to convert sooner rather than later.

Deutsche Bank is predicting that the UAE central bank will allow the dirham to appreciate by as much as 3% against the dollar over the next three months in an attempt to reign in inflation.

In a note from Caroline Grady, an economist at the bank, to financial newswire Bloomberg, she stated: “We expect a small appreciation of 2 percent to 3 percent” in the dirham, which is pegged to the US dollar.

All currencies of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries were pegged with the dollar until last month when Kuwait switched to a peg with a basket of currencies.

That was widely predicted to spell the end to an effort to create a unified GCC currency by 2010, although finance ministers from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman have stated in the past few weeks that the project remains on track.

Inflation in the UAE has been driven by an undersupply of housing that has driven up rents to among the highest in the world.

That has contributed to inflation that the International Monetary Fund estimates at 10.1%, although the UAE central bank claims it is still in single digits.

The government has been unable to cool the economy because its commitment to the dollar peg restricts its ability to raise interest rates out of step with the US Federal Reserve.

Dubai's metro plans

4 June 2007

Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced it will build a third metro line to provide a high-speed link between the Dubai International and Jebel Ali airports.  the major implication of this is that even with the new Jebel Ali airport in operation, with up to six runways, the intent is to keep the existing Dubai airport in operation as well.

The 49-km Purple Line will cut travel time between the two airports to just 40 minutes and have eight stations along its length, three of which will provide airline check-in services for passengers. Estimated to cost $2.73 billion, the Purple Line is to be jointly funded by the RTA and the department of civil aviation.

According to Mattar al-Tayer, RTA's chairman, the design work for the project will begin immediately and be completed in 12 months. Following that, "the RTA will put the project out to tender for construction and select a contractor during the period from May 2008 to March 2009," he said. "The project will be constructed in 45 months starting from March 2009, and service on the Purple Line is scheduled to start in December 2012."

The new line, along with Metro's other routes, will be one of the most advanced rail systems in the world. Designed to be completely electronic, it will be driverless and fully automated with the entire network managed by computers based at a control centre located in Rashidiya. Al-Tayer said the entire metro system is being designed to connect to other public transportation in an effort to integrate Dubai's road, rail and waterborne transport network.

The first two sections of the Metro, the Red and Green Lines, with a budget of $4.2 billion, are expected to have a combined length of 75 km. The 52-km Red Line, which will run from Rashidiya to Jebel Ali is due to come into service in September 2009. Trains are scheduled to start running on the shorter Green Line, which will go from the Al Ittihad Square to Rashidiya bus station through Health Care City and Dubai Airport Terminals 1 and 3, in early 2010.

The route of a proposed fourth metro link, the Blue Line, has yet to be determined but is expected to also connect the country's two main airports. There has also been talk of the network being extended all the way to the border with Sharjah along the Al Ittihad Road.

Dubai officials estimate that together, the Red and Green Lines will be able to transport 1.2 million people per day around the city, picking them up and dropping them off at a series of 50 or more stations, at least nine of them below ground level. Both will have links to the new Purple Line, further integrating the network. When fully completed, the system potentially could have 1.8 million passengers daily.

In order to speed up the construction process started in February 2006, and to minimise disruption to the city, work on the first two lines is being carried out at more than 30 sites simultaneously, rather than progressing stage by stage.

With Dubai's population anticipated to hit 3 million by 2010, and long-term projections for tourism predicting as many as 17 million international arrivals annually by around the middle of the next decade, the emirate is going to have a lot of people on the move. How many of those people will move from their cars to a metro system, especially in the heat of summer, remains to be seen.

Postcard from New York

1 June 2007

It is always interesting to revisit New York especially after being away for a few years. There is much to admire and enjoy and equally as much to be frustrated with or alarmed by.

Lets start with the good:

Manhattan is buzzing. It is lively, energetic, and safe now. Time Square's neon has changed from xxx to Hersheys and M and Ms and Reuters. There are new hotels but room rates can get truly expensive. Our shoebox of a room at the Time hotel cost almost $400, including taxes, on the first night. For some reason (demand greater than supply presumably) hotel rates across the city were all very high that night.

Domestic tourism is very strong; we were there for the week around the Memorial Day holiday, traditionally the beginning of summer in the USA and flights and trains were all busy.

Manhattan's attraction is the diversity of its neighbourhoods. You cross a road and move from Little Italy into Chinatown. From Chinatown you walk into gentrified Soho; and from Soho it is a short walk north to Greenwich Village or East Village. Then there is Time Square and the theatre district around Broadway; the office complexes around the Rockefeller Center and then the shopping of Madison and 5th Avenues. Central Park remains the green lungs of the city; and taking a row boat out on the lake is one of the more pleasant ways to spend an hour.

The subway is safer than it has been in years. It is still dilapidated; the stations badly need a coat of paint and new seating. But it works. And at S2 a ticket is one of few New York bargains.

Not so good:

The need to be heard. Talking loudly and forever on mobile phones so that the rest of us can get a sense of how important someone is. Listening to a guy talking in the hotel lobby about his limousine service you would have thought he was running the country.

Oversized portions. Why or why do restaurants actually advertise over size food portions. This is already the land of giants. Why make things even worse. Best advise for dining  if you are traveling as a couple. Share each course and you will still have more than enough food.

The Broadway theatre is dominated by musicals. Maybe off Broadway is more imaginative; but there is little new writing or true theatre on the New York stage. If you want to see an endless diet of song and dance then you will like Broadway. If you want true theatrical variety then head for London.

Americans cannot make coffee. Muddy water appears completely acceptable. Even Au Bon Pain, loved in Bangkok, makes tasteless coffee in the USA. And Starbucks is only drinkable with an extra shot of coffee.

As for security. Paranoid. Even to get onto the ferry to the Statue of LIberty or into the Empire State building there were strict security checks. Take off your belt, watch etc. At the airport it is worse; the shoes have to come off as well. The computer has to be taken out of its carrier. And these security people are far from pleasant.

Shopping is an over-rated NYC experience. The weakened US$ must make it attractive for Europeans. For those of us used to dollar pegged currencies New York remains expensive.