Tony Douglas, who brought Abu Dhabi's Khalifa Port project into creation, is to take over the running of the capital's airports at a critical time in their development.
Mr Douglas has been named chief executive of Abu Dhabi Airports Company (Adac).
A former chief executive of London Heathrow, the world's third busiest airport, he has stepped down as the chief executive of Abu Dhabi Ports Company (ADPC). He was feted in the capital when the mammoth Dh26 billion (US$7.07bn) Khalifa Port project came in on time and on budget last December.
The appointment comes as Adac steps up the Dh10bn-plus extension of Abu Dhabi International Airport at the Midfield Terminal site, which is scheduled for completion in 2017.
"I feel honoured to be invited to join Adac at this crucial stage in its journey to become a world leader," Mr Douglas said. "This represents a challenge on a truly global scale with an opportunity to deliver one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects worldwide."
ADPC is the company behind the development of the Khalifa Port and adjoining Kizad - Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi - on the capital's outskirts.
The major deepwater port and the vast industrial site of almost half a million square kilometres is equivalent to two thirds the land mass of Singapore.
The ports company expects the high-tech gateway to handle more than one million containers this year. Its development plays a fundamental part in the Abu Dhabi Government's 2030 plan of economic diversification and is designed to attract companies involved in the manufacture of steel, aluminium, engineered metals, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, paper and food, as well as logistics.
Before the Khalifa Port development, Mr Douglas delivered Heathrow's £4.3 billion (Dh24.05bn) Terminal 5 project with similar punctuality and attention to financing.
He also led the programme management team in the build-up to the London 2012 Olympics.
Ali Majed Al Mansoori, the chairman of Adac, said: "Tony joins Adac at a critical stage in the company's journey to deliver an iconic air hub for Abu Dhabi. I am confident that his leadership will take Adac beyond this vast infrastructure project and on towards meeting our ambitious goal of becoming the world's leading airports group."
The Midfield Terminal project is a major plank in the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030. The 700,000 square metre terminal and the extra runway to go with it are expected to increase airline passenger traffic into the capital to more than 40 million people a year.
Last year Adac recorded more than 14.7 million passengers through the capital's airports.
The project is being built by a consortium created by the Turkish construction group TAV, Consolidated Contractors' Company, headquartered in Greece, and the UAE's Arabtec.
The area surrounding the new terminal will also undergo a transformation, according to the plans, with new roads and aircraft-parking stands all on the cards.
The extension is designed to house 65 aircraft. It will use some 69,000 tonnes of steel, more than 680,000 cubic metres of concrete, nearly 500,000 square metres of steel and glass cladding and 325,000 sq metres of stone flooring.
The duty-free shopping area will be more than 18,000 sq metres with 10,000 sq metres of restaurants and cafes.
Well-heeled travellers will be able to enjoy more than 27,500 sq metres of airline hospitality lounges. The check-in area is designed to handle as many as 8,500 passengers an hour at 165 counters and 48 self-service kiosks. The baggage system is designed to process more than 19,000 bags per hour.
There will be 136 security screening lanes for passengers, with a further 25 for staff.
Together with the development of the East Midfield site - a 200-hectare space for cargo handling, ground handling, in-flight catering and other support operations - the airport will grow to eight times its current size.
jdoran@thenational.ae
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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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press
Teri%20Baaton%20Mein%20Aisa%20Uljha%20Jiya
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Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
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
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
