SHARJAH // At offices in the emirate's airport free zone, where Russian and eastern European cargo aircraft operators once managed bustling transportation networks that crisscrossed the globe, business is a shadow of its former self.
Flight crews and office staff, once numbering in the hundreds, have for the most part moved back to Russia and former Soviet republics such as Georgia.
Senior management at a half dozen businesses have kept bare-bones operations running, but only to keep valid their family's residency visas.
The slump has been brought on by the ban on the Antonov An-12, the workhorse of the companies' transport operations. The ageing, four-engine turboprop aircraft was banned from UAE airspace by federal aviation authorities on March 1 following a series of accidents, one of which killed seven people, and a government inspection of operations in Ukraine.
Sharjah had become the Ukrainian-made plane's regional logistics and maintenance hub, but the ban has effectively brought that two-decade era to an end.
"I'm bankrupt," said Valeriy Shmakov, the president of Air Victory Georgia. His company started operating in Sharjah eight years ago with six An-12s.
His aircraft, forced to leave the country, are now idly parked thousands of kilometres away in Uganda, Chad and Somalia.
Like the dozens of other An-12 operators in Sharjah, his planes were used to fly loads into the darkest, most dangerous corners of the Earth - jungle runways in the Congo, dirt landing strips in the Sudan, war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now his biggest concern is what to do about his two children, aged five and 13. Both are enrolled in local schools. "My children, they are now from the UAE," said Mr Shmakov. "What will I do if I have to go back to Russia? It's a big, big problem.
"My life is in this country. How many other people have made their lives here? Too many." Others have more barbed opinions about the ban.
"These aircraft have been violently pushed out," said Alexander Smolin, the general manager of Sky Support Service, a Sharjah-based company that also relied on the An-12.
"The majority of us have given a third of our lives to this place. We've seen this place grow, and now they're kicking us out."
Some say there used to be 20 An-12 operators in Sharjah alone. Sharjah's Department of Civil Aviation could not be reached for comment.
The companies said the An-12 operated legally throughout Europe and, in limited cases, in North America.
"If a country says it's an 'open sky' country, it doesn't mean that they can open for some people, but not for others," said Natalia Fridinskaya, the general director of TransAviaService, a Georgian transport firm that operated from Sharjah for eight years.
The International Civil Aviation Organisation must be notified six months before an aircraft can be banned, she added.
This was not so, according to Mohammed al Balooshi, the head of safety at the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).
"We're a sovereign country and will do what's necessary to promote aviation safety in the UAE," he said. The main reasons for the ban were concerns about Antonov's maintenance and aircraft prolongation programmes, he said.
Last December, four GCAA inspectors were sent to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, to audit Antonov's practices, which, Mr Balooshi said, were found to be deficient. That inspection was prompted by four accidents last year and the year before, one of which involved a Sharjah-bound An-12 that crashed near Fallujah, Iraq, in November 2008, killing all seven on board.
Some planes involved in those incidents were maintained by one of Sharjah's two main Antonov maintenance hubs, one of which has been suspended by federal authorities since January.
GCAA officials suggested recently that Ukraine's civil aviation authority, along with Antonov, operated insufficient safety and oversight standards.
"Mostly they [accidents] happen due to the lack of proper maintenance and after-sale support," said Alexander Kiva, the vice president of marketing and sales at Antonov.
He was unaware of the An-12 being banned anywhere else in the world. "We will do our best in the coming weeks to resolve this question and, hopefully, to start operations [in the UAE] again."
@Email:hnaylor@thenational.ae
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
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar
The specs: 2018 Ducati SuperSport S
Price, base / as tested: Dh74,900 / Dh85,900
Engine: 937cc
Transmission: Six-speed gearbox
Power: 110hp @ 9,000rpm
Torque: 93Nm @ 6,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 5.9L / 100km
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
Story of 2017-18 so far and schedule to come
Roll of Honour
Who has won what so far in the West Asia rugby season?
Western Clubs Champions League
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Bahrain
Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Exiles
Runners up: Jebel Ali Dragons
West Asia Premiership
Winners: Jebel Ali Dragons
Runners up: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
UAE Premiership Cup
Winners: Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Runners up: Dubai Exiles
Fixtures
Friday
West Asia Cup final
5pm, Bahrain (6pm UAE time), Bahrain v Dubai Exiles
West Asia Trophy final
3pm, The Sevens, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Sports City Eagles
Friday, April 13
UAE Premiership final
5pm, Al Ain, Dubai Exiles v Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Company%20Profile
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Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Strait of Hormuz
Fujairah is a crucial hub for fuel storage and is just outside the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route linking Middle East oil producers to markets in Asia, Europe, North America and beyond.
The strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction. Almost a fifth of oil consumed across the world passes through the strait.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait, a move that would risk inviting geopolitical and economic turmoil.
Last month, Iran issued a new warning that it would block the strait, if it was prevented from using the waterway following a US decision to end exemptions from sanctions for major Iranian oil importers.
WITHIN%20SAND
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Moe%20Alatawi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Ra%E2%80%99ed%20Alshammari%2C%20Adwa%20Fahd%2C%20Muhand%20Alsaleh%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
