The resumption of commercial flights to Damascus is having a positive effect on flight times to other Middle Eastern destinations, particularly Beirut.
UAE airline flydubai resumed flights to Damascus on Sunday after a 12-year suspension. Other airlines are following suit, with Saudi Arabia's flynas resuming the Syrian capital from June 12 and Emirates airline set to relaunch flights between Dubai and Damascus on July 16.
Data from flight-tracking site Flightradar24 shows an Emirates flight from Dubai to Beirut on Monday took 2.51 hours. Five days earlier, on May 27, the same journey took 3.40 hours – nearly 50 minutes more.
Qatar Airways also resumed flying over Syria in February, shaving off 45 to 60 minutes of flight time.
According to Flightradar24, the current Qatar Airways flight time between Doha and Beirut is approximately 2.45 hours.
“For airlines, the Syrian airspace provides a better air corridor when travelling, especially on westbound flights that are often impacted by headwinds,” said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research. “So any time saved means fuel is saved too – and that’s a cost saving for airlines as well.
“Opening up of commercial airspace provides a double boon for Syria,” he adds. “Not only will it stand to gain revenue from traffic overflying their territory, it opens up the possibility of other airlines also coming back to the country too.”
Emirates flight paths on May 27 and June 2
The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority announced the resumption of flights between the Emirates and Syria on April 14, following Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara's visit to the UAE earlier that month during which he held talks with President Sheikh Mohamed.
The opening of Syrian airspace in January has also led to shortened flight times between the UAE and Lebanon further north.
“Most UAE flights stopped using Syrian airspace in 2014, adding an extra hour to Beirut-bound flights,” a contributor to LebanonJets, which tracks flights in and out of Beirut, told The National. Dubai's flydubai and Sharjah's Air Arabia resumed flying over Syria en route to Beirut on March 11. The flydubai flights used to take four hours and 10 minutes.
“It has been reduced to three hours and 45 minutes since resuming over flying Syrian airspace from March,” a spokesperson for flydubai told The National.
“We were the first UAE carrier to touch down in Damascus on June 1, offering passengers a daily service from Dubai.”
Emirates airline began flying over Syria last week.
Despite the shorter flight times, airlines are yet to revise their fares, the LebanonJets representative points out.
At the time of writing, a return ticket between Beirut and Dubai on Middle East Airlines, the flag carrier of Lebanon, is approximately Dh1,575. On Emirates, the same route is approximately Dh1,751 while on Etihad Airways, they are approximately Dh2,275.
Due to a high risk to civilian aircraft during the conflict that began in 2011, Syrian airspace was closed off by international carriers.
According to the Conflict Zone & Risk Database, an independent airspace monitor for airlines, commercial airlines avoided Syria entirely due to the risk of aircraft being targeted in error or caught in the crossfire during air attacks involving Israel, Russia and Iran.
The restarting of regular flights to Syria marks another significant step forward in the nation's postwar recovery. It will also be a major boost for Syrians in the UAE who have been deprived of a direct air link to connect with family and friends for so many years.
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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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A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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