I was booked on EgyptAir to Hurghada via Cairo last week. I am a nervous passenger and must admit to an irrational, almost racist, attitude to the world's less glamorous carriers.
"Are they safe?" I asked my host, Labib Kallas, a Lebanese oenologist at the Kourom of the Nile winery and my host in Egypt. "Surely Middle East Airlines is better?" By "better" I meant safer. I had memories of the EgyptAir plane that plummeted into the Atlantic in October 1999, a tragedy in which it was widely suspected that the co-pilot deliberately flew the plane into the sea just to get back at an unpopular superior who was on the same flight.
"Are you kidding?" Labib replied via email. "They are much better than MEA [Middle East Airlines]. You will see". Maybe I didn't want to see. Labib may have transformed the reputation of Egyptian wine from a drink that used to induce a sure-fire migraine into a world-class proposition, but he had clearly been under the desert sun far too long.
Mild anxiety became my default setting in the days before I travelled. How could I be sure that aircraft maintenance was as rigorous as it was in Hosni Mubarak's day? With an interim sharing of power between the Muslim Brotherhood and the military, standards may have dropped in the post-revolution euphoria.
I chatted via Skype with an American friend in Minneapolis who regularly travels to Cairo. "Relax," he said, laughing. "EgyptAir is a member of the Star Alliance. You're gonna be fine."
Star Alliance, eh? The name rang a vague bell and indeed sounded quite pukka. Wikipedia told me that the Star Alliance is the world's largest airline alliance and that it insists that members "comply with the highest industry standards of customer service, security and technical infrastructure". I began to feel a whole lot better.
But there was also the issue of the two internal flights - Cairo to Hurghada and back. For some reason - again it is clearly an irrational fear - I saw internal flights as a death sentence. One hears of Russian planes coming down all the time. And a Boeing 737 owned by the unfortunately named Flash Airlines, an Egyptian charter company, went down in the Red Sea in 2004. The company went bust several weeks after the crash.
I was flying on EgyptAir Express, a new service with a fleet of Brazilian Embraer aircraft. Brazilian? Since when did the Brazilians make planes?
But Embraer is the fourth-largest aircraft company in the world. It has revenue of US$3 billion (Dh11.02bn), back orders worth $15bn and more than 17,265 employees. But we Lebanese live in a bubble. We think the Brazilians spend their time playing beach soccer. We forget that Brazil is a country with a GDP of $2.5 trillion. We also tend to look down our Levantine noses at Egypt, a country whose only contributions to the world are Umm Kulthum and Sharm El Sheikh. We forget that Cairo, arguably the greatest Arab city, makes Beirut look like a suburb. And we forget that EgyptAir has more than 80 aircraft - compared with MEA's 15 - and flies to more than 70 destinations worldwide.
The flights, of course, were fine. EgyptAir Express was one of the best services I have flown: efficient, punctual and the Embraer E-170 turned out to be a great little plane. What was not to like?
For the record, according to www.planecrashinfo.com, between 1950 and 2010, there were 1,085 fatal accidents involving commercial aircraft. The odds of dying on a decent commercial airliner are 1 in 9.2 million, and the chance of surviving a controlled landing in water is 53 per cent. Even if you fly on a carrier with a terrible safety record, your chances of not making it are 1 in 843,000.
So now you know.
Michael Karam is the associate editor in chief of Executive, a Lebanese regional business magazine
Abaya trends
The utilitarian robe held dear by Arab women is undergoing a change that reveals it as an elegant and graceful garment available in a range of colours and fabrics, while retaining its traditional appeal.
match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Read more about the coronavirus
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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
US tops drug cost charts
The study of 13 essential drugs showed costs in the United States were about 300 per cent higher than the global average, followed by Germany at 126 per cent and 122 per cent in the UAE.
Thailand, Kenya and Malaysia were rated as nations with the lowest costs, about 90 per cent cheaper.
In the case of insulin, diabetic patients in the US paid five and a half times the global average, while in the UAE the costs are about 50 per cent higher than the median price of branded and generic drugs.
Some of the costliest drugs worldwide include Lipitor for high cholesterol.
The study’s price index placed the US at an exorbitant 2,170 per cent higher for Lipitor than the average global price and the UAE at the eighth spot globally with costs 252 per cent higher.
High blood pressure medication Zestril was also more than 2,680 per cent higher in the US and the UAE price was 187 per cent higher than the global price.
'Laal Kaptaan'
Director: Navdeep Singh
Stars: Saif Ali Khan, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Zoya Hussain
Rating: 2/5
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
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Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Going grey? A stylist's advice
If you’re going to go grey, a great style, well-cared for hair (in a sleek, classy style, like a bob), and a young spirit and attitude go a long way, says Maria Dowling, founder of the Maria Dowling Salon in Dubai.
It’s easier to go grey from a lighter colour, so you may want to do that first. And this is the time to try a shorter style, she advises. Then a stylist can introduce highlights, start lightening up the roots, and let it fade out. Once it’s entirely grey, a purple shampoo will prevent yellowing.
“Get professional help – there’s no other way to go around it,” she says. “And don’t just let it grow out because that looks really bad. Put effort into it: properly condition, straighten, get regular trims, make sure it’s glossy.”
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1971: The Year The Music Changed Everything
Director: Asif Kapadia
4/5
TOUR DE FRANCE INFO
Dates: July 1-23
Distance: 3,540km
Stages: 21
Number of teams: 22
Number of riders: 198
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
