Airport and travel services company dnata, part of Dubai's Emirates Group, expects to double in size by the time it moves its full operations to the new passenger terminal at Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), its group chief executive said.
The company aims to shift its entire operations to DWC as early as 2032, Steve Allen told The National on Tuesday.
The number of aircraft turns handled by dnata globally rose 9 per cent annually to 778,026 and its workforce increased 6 per cent to 48,900 people in the financial year ending March 31.
"By the time we get to the move into DWC in 2032-2034, you're probably looking at a combined airport operation of 150 million to 160 million passengers between DWC and DXB. They've got to accommodate that volume from day one and so we will have operations that have ramped up over that period to be able to cope with those [aircraft] movements," he said.
"So feasibly, dnata could be double the size by then in terms of the number of aircraft turns that we handle and the number of staff and quantity of equipment we need to handle that."
Dnata, founded in 1959, handles a variety of aviation services. It currently offers ground handling and cargo services in 98 airports around the world. It also has a business division to handle in-flight catering and retail, while another unit sells travel services.
The company is currently seeking opportunities for mergers and acquisitions across several business segments, particularly for airport ground-handling, and in regions such as Latin America, the Middle East and the Far East, Mr Allen said.
"The greatest opportunities are in ground-handling and cargo-handling because the consolidation of that industry has been fairly limited. The largest global handlers cover about 35 per cent of the total business, so there's plenty of potential for consolidation and expansion of that business," he said.
There are "huge growth market opportunities" in South America, where dnata already operates in Brazil. It is also exploring opportunities in Chile and Colombia, he added. There is also "plenty of potential" in the Far East, where dnata has operations in Singapore and the Philippines.
In Saudi Arabia, where dnata offers travel services, the company is seeking opportunities in ground-handling and catering as the kingdom aims to grow its aviation and tourism sector.
Dnata is bidding for contracts with airlines in the kingdom, Mr Allen said.
In its travel division, which includes Arabian Adventures, Destination Asia and Imagine Cruising, "we're actually looking at the organic expansion of our products from Dubai to the rest of the Middle East ... rather than going through any sort of acquisition", he said.
Dnata’s airport operations account for 46 per cent of its global revenue, while catering and retail contributes 34 per cent and travel represents an 18 per cent share, according to a presentation by Mr Allen on Tuesday.
Bigger investments
The company invested Dh464 million ($126 million) in the 2023-2024 financial year and plans to exceed that level in the current financial year, in areas including equipment, infrastructure and technology.
"We will be stepping up on that. We're looking for some significant investments in ground services equipment," Mr Allen said, with the focus on acquiring electric and hybrid equipment as part of the company's sustainability strategy.
It won a seven-year ground handling licence in October to operate at Rome Fiumicino Airport. To support that new business, the company will invest more than €20 million ($21.6 million) to purchase new ground support equipment, including advanced electric vehicles.
"This is probably the biggest single-location growth that we will have; we're hoping to go live with that in October of this year. So it's a significant step in one of the world's major hubs," Mr Allen said.
However, aviation services company Swissport in November filed an appeal with the Lazio Administrative Court in Italy against the decision of Aeroporti di Roma contesting "critical issues" related to the tender process for awarding the licence, according to its statement.
But "the appeal will be concluded this month, we hope, and we're pretty confident that will go through and we're gearing up for operations", Mr Allen said.
Dnata already has airport handling operations in two Milan airports, Malpensa and Linate.
It is now bidding for contracts with airlines at FCO in Rome, including Ita Airways, Mr Allen said.
Dnata is also set to open a new cargo facility in Amsterdam in July 2025, which is to become the single largest cargo operation in its network, with an investment of €40 million, Mr Allen said.
The opening of a new cargo facility in Erbil, in Iraq's northern Kurdish region, is also "imminent", he said.
"We will be significantly ramping up our investments this year based on the strong year we've just had," he added.
Dnata's profit quadrupled to Dh1.4 billion amid growth across its business divisions, while its revenue rose by 29 per cent to a record Dh19.2 billion in its fiscal year that ended in March.
Having won more than 120 contracts across its business segments in the past financial year, the company expects to exceed those levels in the current year, Mr Allen said. "We definitely feel like we're in a strong position to gain market share, which means that we should win certainly more contracts than we lose," he said.
Other drivers of business would be ongoing discussions with low-cost carriers to provide on-board retail products.
Dnata already manages EasyJet’s pan-European in-fight retail programme, as well as that of Qantas Airways' budget arm Jetstar in Australia and Air Arabia's flights from Sharjah Airport.
Weathering the storm
Dnata is monitoring the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, as Israel's war in Gaza continues for more than seven months, Mr Allen told reporters on Tuesday.
"So far, we've sort of managed to work around them, but it depends on whether they escalate or de-escalate, we'll see what happens there," he said.
"That's something we keep a very close eye on."
While the 60-year-old company is "concerned" about the uncertainty from the Israel-Gaza war, it has also been through two Gulf wars and the Covid pandemic that decimated air travel.
"I'm confident that whatever comes our way ... we're in a good position to be able to weather the storm," Mr Allen said, citing the company's strong balance sheet.
The unprecedented storm that hit the UAE in April, severely disrupting flights at Dubai International Airport, also hit dnata's operations, he said.
The financial impact from the disruptions, which will appear in this fiscal year's earnings report, was "not too significant".
"There were less flights taking off and landing, so we will lose a bit of revenue from that, but all the equipment was recoverable and there was no massive damage to our infrastructure. So it's just the loss of revenue from those few days," he said.
Another challenge is that airlines are struggling with a shortage of aircraft due to production problems and supply chain issues.
"The challenge for airlines at the moment is the availability of aircraft and if they can't get the aircraft that they need to continue to grow, then that will limit our ability to grow as well," Mr Allen said.
Asked about potential IPO plans for dnata, Mr Allen said that any decision on a listing was ultimately up to its shareholder, the Dubai government.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
List of officials:
Referees: Chris Broad, David Boon, Jeff Crowe, Andy Pycroft, Ranjan Madugalle and Richie Richardson.
Umpires: Aleem Dar, Kumara Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus, Chris Gaffaney, Ian Gould, Richard Illingworth, Richard Kettleborough, Nigel Llong, Bruce Oxenford, Ruchira Palliyaguruge, Sundaram Ravi, Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker, Michael Gough, Joel Wilson and Paul Wilson.
The biog
Age: 59
From: Giza Governorate, Egypt
Family: A daughter, two sons and wife
Favourite tree: Ghaf
Runner up favourite tree: Frankincense
Favourite place on Sir Bani Yas Island: “I love all of Sir Bani Yas. Every spot of Sir Bani Yas, I love it.”
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
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THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
How to get exposure to gold
Although you can buy gold easily on the Dubai markets, the problem with buying physical bars, coins or jewellery is that you then have storage, security and insurance issues.
A far easier option is to invest in a low-cost exchange traded fund (ETF) that invests in the precious metal instead, for example, ETFS Physical Gold (PHAU) and iShares Physical Gold (SGLN) both track physical gold. The VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF invests directly in mining companies.
Alternatively, BlackRock Gold & General seeks to achieve long-term capital growth primarily through an actively managed portfolio of gold mining, commodity and precious-metal related shares. Its largest portfolio holdings include gold miners Newcrest Mining, Barrick Gold Corp, Agnico Eagle Mines and the NewMont Goldcorp.
Brave investors could take on the added risk of buying individual gold mining stocks, many of which have performed wonderfully well lately.
London-listed Centamin is up more than 70 per cent in just three months, although in a sign of its volatility, it is down 5 per cent on two years ago. Trans-Siberian Gold, listed on London's alternative investment market (AIM) for small stocks, has seen its share price almost quadruple from 34p to 124p over the same period, but do not assume this kind of runaway growth can continue for long
However, buying individual equities like these is highly risky, as their share prices can crash just as quickly, which isn't what what you want from a supposedly safe haven.
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 582bhp
Torque: 730Nm
Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
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The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The five pillars of Islam
Napoleon
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
Essentials
The flights
Whether you trek after mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda or the Congo, the most convenient international airport is in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali. There are direct flights from Dubai a couple of days a week with RwandAir. Otherwise, an indirect route is available via Nairobi with Kenya Airways. Flydubai flies to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, via Entebbe in Uganda. Expect to pay from US$350 (Dh1,286) return, including taxes.
The tours
Superb ape-watching tours that take in all three gorilla countries mentioned above are run by Natural World Safaris. In September, the company will be operating a unique Ugandan ape safari guided by well-known primatologist Ben Garrod.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, local operator Kivu Travel can organise pretty much any kind of safari throughout the Virunga National Park and elsewhere in eastern Congo.