Emirates and Qantas drop fast-track regulatory bid



The proposed alliance between Emirates Airline and the Australian carrier Qantas hit some turbulence yesterday after both announced they were abandoning an attempt to fast track competition approval for their deal.

The news sent Qantas' shares dropping 2 per cent at one point yesterday, closing down 0.8 per cent at A$1.22 (Dh4.6)in Sydney.

After announcing their link-up early last month, Emirates and Qantas submitted an application for interim authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to allow them to negotiate route scheduling and airport-landing slots, coordinate booking systems and plan joint marketing campaigns before the regulator completed its formal assessment in March.

The proposed deal with Emirates is key to Qantas' strategy to turn around its loss-making long-haul operations by late 2014.

Any delay would have "serious adverse economic implications", Qantas has said.

But Qantas' rival airline Virgin Australia, has asked the ACCC to take its time studying the deal.

"It raises a number of complex issues across many markets, including ones in which the applicants would have a very large combined market share," Virgin said.

Singapore Airlines, a direct competitor with Qantas on the route between Australia and the United Kingdom also objected on the grounds that the alliance would end up dominating the route.

Several Australian transport unions objected to Qantas' interim approval request on the grounds that the move was anti-competitive.

Although Qantas would not link the decision to withdraw the interim application to the objections, the airline's head of corporate affairs, Olivia Wirth, confirmed that the carriers had chosen to wait for a full competition assessment. A draft decision is due in December.

"Qantas has decided that it can pursue slots for Qantas routes via Dubai without interim approval, which was one of the drivers for withdrawing the application," she said.

"We took a conservative approach to this issue for obvious reasons, but we are now comfortable that Qantas and Emirates can do a significant amount of preparatory work without interim authorisation. We're continuing to work with the ACCC as they consider our application for substantive authorisation."

Qantas has argued that if the tie-up was not approved, it would need to further scale back its loss-making European routes. At stake for Emirates is access to Qantas' extensive domestic travel network. The alliance may also help to fulfil the Dubai-based airline's goal of offering an around-the-world service using the Australian carrier for trans-Pacific flights.

Emirates and Qantas want the ACCC to authorise their alliance for 10 years, but the regulator has indicated it would do so only if it was satisfied that the flying public would benefit.

The Australian investment bank Macquarie Group predicted Qantas and Emirates together may end up with a 42 per cent share of the routes between Australia and the UK and an even bigger slice of its business-class segment.

The airlines' decision to amend their ACCC application came as Qantas announced it would begin flying passengers to Europe via Dubai, instead of through Singapore, from March 31. Switching its hub to Dubai for flights to Europe was a key part of the alliance deal with Emirates.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
 
Started: 2021
 
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
 
Based: Tunisia 
 
Sector: Water technology 
 
Number of staff: 22 
 
Investment raised: $4 million 
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Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

NO OTHER LAND

Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Why your domicile status is important

Your UK residence status is assessed using the statutory residence test. While your residence status – ie where you live - is assessed every year, your domicile status is assessed over your lifetime.

Your domicile of origin generally comes from your parents and if your parents were not married, then it is decided by your father. Your domicile is generally the country your father considered his permanent home when you were born. 

UK residents who have their permanent home ("domicile") outside the UK may not have to pay UK tax on foreign income. For example, they do not pay tax on foreign income or gains if they are less than £2,000 in the tax year and do not transfer that gain to a UK bank account.

A UK-domiciled person, however, is liable for UK tax on their worldwide income and gains when they are resident in the UK.

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ARGYLLE
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