How UAE defence giant EDGE Group plans to double its exports
The UAE defence conglomerate has put an aggressive strategy in place to increase its share of exports while navigating the growing gap between East and West.
Vueling has announced that it carried 8.2 million passengers during 2009, with an average seat-load factor of 73.7%, a 3.4 percentage point (pp) increase over 2008’s figure.
In December 2009, the airline – whose figures are affected by its merger with clickair in July 2009 – generated 758,00 revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), up by 89.9% on December 2008’s 399,000. Available seat kilometres (ASKs) were up 96.0% at 1,102,000 from 562,000 in the same month a year earlier.
This created a 2.2 percentage point fall in load factor to 68.8% in December 2009 from 71.0% in December 2008. Total passengers carried during the month was 817,107, a 95.9% increase on December 2008’s 417,013.
For the whole of 2009, the carrier recorded 7,500,000 RPKs, 34.3% up on 2008’s 5,583,000, while ASKs increased by 28.1% to 10,181,000 from 7,945,000 in 2008.
As stated, the resultant load factor for 2009 was 73.7%, 3.4 pp up on 2008’s figure of 70.3% with the airline carrying 8,198,656 compared to 5,886,160 in 2008, up 39.3%.
The UAE defence conglomerate has put an aggressive strategy in place to increase its share of exports while navigating the growing gap between East and West.
The US Congress has raised concerns about how inflation rates and cuts in main acquisition programmes could affect the US military.
Washington’s ageing inventory and the pace Moscow and Beijing have been modernising their capabilities put in check the US Nuclear deterrence.
The Pentagon has been operating under temporary funding since October 2023, which has impacted its main acquisition and development programmes, increasing the capability gap between the US and China.
In 2023, defence spending increased by an unprecedented 11% across European NATO countries and Canada. Since 2014, the group has spent an additional US$600 billion on defence.
The DoD requested nearly US$850 billion to fund operations over the next fiscal year. Despite the amount being 1% higher than the FY2024 budget request, it has not covered the 3% inflation rate, which could impact the DoD’s main programmes in the medium and long term.