Gulf Airlines compete for passengers with Starlink internet
Providing dependable internet connections is the latest battleground in competition between Gulf airlines.
The rivalry on international routes between Emirates and Qatar Airways is being stoked by the increased availability of Starlink, the low-orbit satellite network developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.
While the Qatar carrier has already equipped more than 100 of its long-haul aircraft with Starlink’s service, Dubai-based Emirates is trying to catch up with a new fleet-wide rollout of Starlink that will enable streaming videos, playing video games and making voice calls simultaneously.
Budget airline Flydubai, meanwhile, is preparing to offer Starlink’s high-speed WiFi as a standard feature rather than a premium perk.
Gulf sovereign funds look to Asia as Mubadala leads dealmaking
Competition between sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar is likely to deepen in 2025 as the three Gulf states pour money into China and other developing markets.
The growing focus on Asia is evident from data assembled by Singapore-based Global SWF, whose 2024 report released last week showed Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala edging past Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as the world’s most active sovereign investor.
Mubadala and its subsidiaries invested $29.2 billion last year, up from $17.5 billion in 2023, and a 67% increase in total deals.
The PIF chopped its investment spending by 37% to $19.9 billion last year, down from $31.6 billion in 2023.
Three other Gulf funds were ranked among the top 10 global dealmakers: Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, ADQ and the Qatar Investment Authority, the Global SWF report showed.
Over the past 12 months, Gulf sovereign wealth funds invested almost $10 billion in China, the largest such volume in history, Global SWF Managing Director Diago Lopez said in an interview published today with Arabian Gulf Business Insight.
Every time investment managers come across “a good opportunity to invest in emerging economies, they are now taking it because they know that they need to diversify away from developed markets,” Lopez told AGBI.
Etihad could become first Gulf carrier to go public
Competition is picking up in the Middle East aviation market as Gulf countries seek more ways to extract value from diversifying their economies.
In the UAE, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, backed by the ADQ sovereign wealth fund, is considering an IPO, which would make it the first Gulf carrier to go public, Bloomberg reports.
In Saudi Arabia, which is launching Riyadh Air as a second flag carrier, budget airline Flynas said in December that it is looking into a public share sale.
Emirates shuffles its ranks as executives vie for top job
Emirates is making some senior executive changes that appear to signal a final-stage competition to succeed 74-year old President Tim Clark, who has run the Dubai-based airline for two decades.
Promotions were announced on Thursday for Emirates Chief Operating Officer Adel Al Redha and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim, who were both named Deputy Presidents under Clark.
Budget carrier Flydubai, meanwhile, said profit reached a record high of $572 million last year, rising 75% from 2022, as passenger numbers on the UAE budget airline surged 31% to 13.8 million.
