Boeing, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Capital Deliver First Emirates SkyCargo 777 Freighter

Boeing, Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Capital Deliver First Emirates SkyCargo 777 Freighter

Boeing (NYSE: BA), DAE and Emirates SkyCargo today celebrated the first 777 Freighter delivery to the Dubai-based air freight carrier, and the first ever Boeing delivery to Dubai Aerospace Enterprise. Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Capital, the leasing arm of DAE, has a total of eight 777 Freighters on order.


"Today marks a milestone in our relationship with two key customers based in Dubai," said Marty Bentrott, vice president of Sales for the Middle East and Africa. "The unmatched efficiency and reliability of the 777 passenger models have made it the premier twin-aisle choice for our Middle East customers - so too, will the 777 Freighter enhance air freight delivery to and from the region at the best margins achievable."


Emirates' first 777 Freighter is shown here taking off from Paine Field in Everett during flight testing earlier this month.

Pearls of retail wisdom

For every tale of rags to riches in the Emirates, there are few millionaires today who can truly say they started at rock bottom. Yusuffali MA is one of them.

At the age of 15, in the early 1970s, he travelled from his south India home with only the money in his pocket and a single suitcase.

More than 30 years later, the managing director of Emke Group has built a retail empire through the LuLu brand, with a reported turnover of $2.2 billion (Dh8.07bn) last year. And he loves to tell his story.

For the banks, we are all potential delinquents now (Three items)

I always understood delinquents were nasty antisocial types who hung around city centres giving offence to the general public in every possible way.

Often preceded by the adjective “juvenile”, they were the subject of much attention by the caring professions and the law enforcers, but they usually grew out of their bad ways, and went on to become decent members of society.

Not so in the UAE, it seems. Here, potential delinquents are you and me – expatriate workers who have maybe lost their jobs, or fallen victim to the global credit crisis in some other way, and who are aiming to run back to their home country leaving a wad of unpaid debts in their wake in the Emirates.

Bermuda beckons for Dragon Oil

Dragon Oil, a Dubai-based energy group that pumps oil in Turkmenistan and is incorporated in Ireland, may move its legal headquarters to Bermuda by creating a holding company there.

The proposal by the directors will require regulatory, court and shareholder approval, and comes as Dragon seeks to expand its operations internationally, and could result in tax savings on acquisitions.

Dragon’s board said it would allow the group to structure proposed new business ventures in a “tax-efficient manner”, and that details of the ventures would be provided to shareholders soon.

MGM pays up for Las Vegas venture

MGM Mirage provided US$200 million (Dh734m) in financing to keep on track a huge Las Vegas leisure complex that it is building jointly with Dubai World yesterday, the company said, after days of uncertainty and legal disputes that brought the project near to bankruptcy.

Dubai World had declined to come up with the financing, arguing in a law suit against MGM Mirage that the American company had mismanaged the $8.8 billion project and was unable to foot its side of the bill.

The CityCenter project, which is the biggest privately financed construction in United States history, is meant to be a crowning achievement for MGM Mirage. It stands on a 67-acre site between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts on the Las Vegas Strip with hotel-condominiums, a casino and a 500,000-sqft shopping centre.

Credit firms rate Abu Dhabi highly

ABU DHABI was yesterday rated a safe investment by three leading credit-rating agencies evaluating a plan by the Government to borrow US$10 billion (Dh36.7bn) on the international markets.

Abu Dhabi was rated highly, implying a low risk of default, on the strength of its oil revenues, massive savings and low debt levels.

“The ratings on the Emirate of Abu Dhabi are supported by the Government’s very strong asset position, which provides significant financial flexibility, the country’s high level of political stability and wealth, underpinned by its rich resource endowment, and by policies that reinforce Abu Dhabi’s integration with the global economy,” said Farouk Soussa, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

MGM Mirage wins CityCenter respite

MGM Mirage has won a waiver from its lenders allowing it to provide $200m in funding for its estimated $8.7bn CityCenter mega resort, enabling development to continue and averting potential bankruptcy of the project.

The payment covers $100m that was to have been paid by MGM's partner in the project, Dubai World, the sovereign wealth fund-backed investor. Dubai World sued t he casino operator controlled by billionaire Kirk Kerkorian this week for breach of contract after MGM warned it was at risk of defaulting on its loans.

MGM said it and Dubai World would have to pay another $800m in combined equity contributions before they could tap a $1.8bn credit facility to complete the building of the massive luxury resort, shopping mall and residential complex located between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts on the glittering Las Vegas Strip.