Wizz Air leaves Abu Dhabi, blaming costs, regional tension

Wizz Air will suspend its Abu Dhabi operations in September after running the budget carrier as a joint venture with ADQ for the past five years.

The Hungarian airline blamed persistent engine issues that grounded its planes, along with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and regulatory challenges, Bloomberg reports.

Wizz Air Abu Dhabi teamed up with sovereign wealth fund ADQ in 2019 to focus on low-cost flights from its hub in the UAE capital to cities in the Middle East, Africa and India. Five weeks ago, it suffered its worst-ever stock decline amid the airline’s rising costs.

“The more we operate in Abu Dhabi, the more engines we have to ground” because of the hot and harsh environment, Wizz CEO Jozsef Varadi said in an interview with Bloomberg.

With its departure from the UAE, Wizz will focus on its core market in central and eastern Europe, where Varadi said the airline has under-invested because of its concentration on Abu Dhabi and the engine issues. Airline staff in Abu Dhabi will be offered jobs in Europe.

Saudi PIF invests in surging soccer realm with Kings League

Having disrupted the athletic world with billions poured into golf, tennis, mixed martial arts and esports, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is diving deeper into soccer.

SURJ Sports, an investment arm of the sovereign wealth fund, signed an agreement on Tuesday to form a joint venture with the upstart Kings League.

The move brings a wildly popular new brand of football to the kingdom that features seven players on each side of the field. 

An inaugural event is planned for November, which will be streamed on a range of platforms including TikTok and YouTube. The league has close to 30 million social media followers.

Kings League was founded in 2022 by former Barcelona defender Gerard Piqué and has a growing young audience drawn by its fast-paced format.

Most of the league’s revenue comes from sponsorship and merchandising, rather than broadcasting, which fuels traditional football teams that play with 11 to a side. 

“Our priority today is to maximize reach and get in front of as many fans as possible,” Kings League CEO Djamel Agaoua tells Bloomberg.

“In the future, as the product matures, we want to develop our media rights revenue stream, and we might consider more exclusive deals with broadcasters and streaming platforms,” he said.