Grape the Vine

The United Arab Emirates is a place well known for it’s surge in business recently and the implications for it’s economy are endless. The first few meteorites of cash have seen entertainment complexes spring up out of the desert sand, sports arenas playing host to tournaments and academies, shopping centres filling to the brim and streets weighing heavy under the pounding of hundreds upon thousands of tourists. Money follows money, and there’s no question that hard-hitters in any business will be finding a reason to make their way to the Middle East in the short term if they haven’t done so already.

One of the most interesting changes that has occurred since the boom took on serious motion is that of the travel industry. What began as a humble pedestrian became a motorist trundling along the 120km stretch of tarmac between Abu Dhabi and Dubai – the two thumping organs at the centre of the commotion – a number of flights have redirected straight into the heart of the trading and the docks are filling with wave-crunching yachts, but that’s an awfully vanilla version of what’s actually happening.

The most obvious change in the travel industry in the UAE is air-travel. Many people had no idea where or even what it was a matter of years ago, so flights were few and far between; now that the National Airline of UAE has taken the bit between its teeth you’ll find it hard to come across an airport that won’t provide flights to Abu Dhabi.

The increase in popularity for flights to Abu Dhabi in particular are making other countries and business stand up and take note.

[...] the alliance with Virgin Blue — expected to see about 66,000 passengers per year feeding from Etihad’s network to and from V Australia flights — will also help by boosting yields on Australian routes.

Etihad chief executive James Hogan said the airline’s partnership with Virgin Blue would give the airlines a double-daily frequency on the Sydney-Abu Dhabi route and their combined frequent flyer offering would be attractive to corporate customers.

From theaustralian.com.au here

Although it’s true that businessmen are flying in their droves from New York, Zurich, London and other business capitals across the world – connections like Virgin Blue allow Etihad to continue splashing around in the entertainment world – flights to sydney from dubai is just one of hundreds of routes now covered by Etihad – not all of which make their way to the UAE. Let’s not forget this is the national airline.

Next time.. a look at the boats and floats off the coast of Dubai.