Menzies Aviation, one of the world’s biggest aviation services companies, has been awarded more than $26 million in damages by an international tribunal following a dispute with the Afghan government.
The Edinburgh-based aviation company on Wednesday said that London’s International Chamber of Commerce tribunal had ruled in its favour following the illegal termination of its subsidiary’s aviation services concession by Afghanistan in 2020.
The tribunal has awarded NAS Afghanistan — National Aviation Services, now part of the Menzies Aviation group — damages and compensation of $26 million plus interest, it added.
“I am delighted that justice has finally been served,” said Hassan El-Houry, chairman of Menzies Aviation.
Afghanistan “illegally terminated NAS’s contract, expropriated our assets and staff and took our management team hostage”, he added.
“Governments are not above the law, and we will always take the necessary steps to protect our staff and business interests.”
NAS had been providing ground services at Kabul, Kandahar and Herat international airports in Afghanistan since 2013 through a contract awarded following an open tender process.
It fulfilled its contractual obligations and invested more than $7 million, bringing in updated systems and equipment, and improved the operating standards and service levels within each airport of operation, Menzies said in a statement.
However, in October 2019, the government of Afghanistan, Ariana Afghan Airlines and the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation expropriated NAS’s operations in the Asian country and replaced it with a new operator.
They also took “active and hostile” steps to force NAS to surrender its assets and personnel including the sudden imposition of a travel ban on expatriate employees, Menzies said.
“Following these unjust actions, NAS suffered considerable losses and therefore sought retribution as available under the legally binding contract entered into by all parties.”
In August, Kuwait-based Agility — one of the largest logistics companies in the Middle East and North Africa region — announced that it has finalised its acquisition of UK-based John Menzies and will combine the business with NAS to provide aviation services in 58 countries.
Operating as Menzies Aviation, the combined company provides air cargo services, fuel services and ground services at airports on six continents. The combined revenue of Menzies and NAS exceeded $1.5 billion last year.
The new company has about 35,000 employees and operations at 254 airports, handling 600,000 aircraft turns, two million tonnes of air cargo and 2.5 million fuelling turns per year.
Some of the company’s customers include Air Canada, Air China, Air France-KLM, America Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, easyJet, Emirates, Ethiopian, flydubai, Frontier Airlines, Qantas Group and Qatar Airways.
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Top financial tips for graduates
Araminta Robertson, of the Financially Mint blog, shares her financial advice for university leavers:
1. Build digital or technical skills: After graduation, people can find it extremely hard to find jobs. From programming to digital marketing, your early twenties are for building skills. Future employers will want people with tech skills.
2. Side hustle: At 16, I lived in a village and started teaching online, as well as doing work as a virtual assistant and marketer. There are six skills you can use online: translation; teaching; programming; digital marketing; design and writing. If you master two, you’ll always be able to make money.
3. Networking: Knowing how to make connections is extremely useful. Use LinkedIn to find people who have the job you want, connect and ask to meet for coffee. Ask how they did it and if they know anyone who can help you. I secured quite a few clients this way.
4. Pay yourself first: The minute you receive any income, put about 15 per cent aside into a savings account you won’t touch, to go towards your emergency fund or to start investing. I do 20 per cent. It helped me start saving immediately.
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If your investment decisions are being dictated by emotions such as fear, greed, hope, frustration and boredom, it is time for a rethink, Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, says.
Greed
Greedy investors trade beyond their means, open more positions than usual or hold on to positions too long to chase an even greater gain. “All too often, they incur a heavy loss and may even wipe out the profit already made.
Tip: Ignore the short-term hype, noise and froth and invest for the long-term plan, based on sound fundamentals.
Fear
The risk of making a loss can cloud decision-making. “This can cause you to close out a position too early, or miss out on a profit by being too afraid to open a trade,” he says.
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While all traders need hope to start trading, excessive optimism can backfire. Too many traders hold on to a losing trade because they believe that it will reverse its trend and become profitable.
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Traders can get annoyed when the markets have behaved in unexpected ways and generates losses or fails to deliver anticipated gains.
Tip: Accept in advance that asset price movements are completely unpredictable and you will suffer losses at some point. These can be managed, say, by attaching stops and limits to your trades.
Boredom
Too many investors buy and sell because they want something to do. They are trading as entertainment, rather than in the hope of making money. As well as making bad decisions, the extra dealing charges eat into returns.
Tip: Open an online demo account and get your thrills without risking real money.
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