Emirates is in talks with Airbus and Boeing for a new freighter aircraft order and is weighing the freighter versions of the A350 and 777X as it plans to triple its cargo fleet by 2030.
The airline expects to make a decision within weeks amid a capacity shortage due to late aircraft deliveries and strong demand for air cargo services, Nadeem Sultan, its senior vice president of freighters and cargo planning, told The National at the Aviation Future Week on Wednesday.
“A further announcement in terms of investments in the freighters” is coming in “the next couple of weeks”, he said.
The size of the order is still undecided as talks with both Airbus and Boeing continue. “We are finalising that now,” he said.
Emirates is evaluating the freighter models amid further delays on Boeing’s 777X programme to 2026, from an earlier deadline of 2025, making it nearly six years late.
The A350 freighter is powered by Rolls-Royce's Trent XWB-97 engines and Emirates president Tim Clark has previously expressed concerns about its durability in harsh weather. Rolls-Royce has said it has invested heavily to improve performance.
Emirates currently has a fleet of 11 Boeing 777 freighters, with a number of Boeing 747 freighters on lease.
It has nine Boeing 777 freighters on order. These include five jets ordered in July to replace planes with expiring leases, and four from an order made in 2022.
Boeing's delivery dates on the 777 freighters have slipped by four to six months recently, according to Mr Sultan.
“It has a massive impact in terms of capacity, especially now as we enter the peak season, traditionally for air cargo that is now in October, November and December. And unfortunately, we're short of capacity because of these delays,” he said.
The airline was supposed to get delivery of five aircraft but only received one and expects the rest during the current financial year, that ends on March 31.
“We're supposed to get new aircraft in but they have not come yet, but we have to let some aircraft go back to the lessor, so now we're in this capacity crunch where we are at least three aircraft short at the moment,” he said.
Emirates is evaluating its freighter aircraft order depending on delivery dates.
“We are in this odd situation where if you have a bag of money today, you can go to both manufacturers but you have to wait at least three to four years before you get an aircraft,” Mr Sultan said.
For its passenger aircraft, Emirates already operates Boeing 777 wide-bodies and is taking delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 early next month, so the freighter versions of both aircraft will give the airline “economies of scale”.
The A350 freighter has a smaller capacity of 108 tonnes, while the 777-8 has a payload of 118 tonnes.
“The operating economics of the A350 freighter are very good. It also has a bigger door than the 777-8. So when assessing both, the A350 and 777-8 both give economy of scale … both of them are solid, good freighters, but they're slightly different,” Mr Sultan said.
When it comes to the A350, “our concern is around the engines”, he said.
“The A350 freighter has the same engine as the A350-1000 passenger variant, so as we've seen in this region with hot climate, the engine durability has big issues so that's prevents us from making a decision on that,” he said.
For the 777-8 jets, “the whole uncertainty is around the delivery timelines and Boeing's ability to meet those timelines”, he said.
“Even if they promise a timeline today, we see the delays on the 777X passenger aircraft … we should have had this delivered to us at least five years ago and we're still waiting,” he said.
The airline is also keeping options for wet-leasing freighters for the next decade to have some flexibility in the fleet and to mitigate the risk of capacity shortages.
“It's a tough call … once we've made a call, we will risk-mitigate that. Obviously now we use ACMI [aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance] capacity and that's something we will keep in the fleet for the next decade to manage that risk of aircraft coming in or going out,” Mr Sultan said.
The airline plans to have a freighter fleet of 32 to 35 aircraft by 2030, Mr Sultan said.
The freighter fleet expansion comes as Emirates, which currently handles 2.5 million tonnes of cargo per year, expects capacity to grow to 12 million tonnes in a decade, he said. This is in addition to the belly-hold capacity of the 300 passenger aircraft that the airline has on order.
“So in tonnage terms, our capacity is going to grow tremendously,” he said. “The challenge now is how do we get them in.”
The airline is also seeing more demand for air cargo that terminates in the UAE amid the country's growing population, the influx of new businesses and as the country boosts its position as a global logistics hub.
“So overall, maybe 10 years ago, it was primarily transit and now actually we have a big share of our cargo that is UAE-terminating,” Mr Sultan said.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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