UAE-based airlines are making waves on the global aviation map, launching new routes and increasing flight frequencies to key international destinations. Emirates and Etihad Airways are at the forefront of this expansion, reshaping connectivity from the Middle East to Asia, Europe, North America, and North Africa.

From doubling daily flights to Tokyo to launching historic nonstop services to Calgary and Luxembourg, the UAE’s carriers are creating more options for travellers while strengthening trade, tourism, and cultural ties across continents.

Emirates doubles daily flights to Tokyo Narita

On 5 February 2026, Emirates announced the addition of a second daily service to Tokyo Narita, effective May 1, 2026, using its retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The new flight, EK320, departs Dubai at 22:30hrs and arrives in Tokyo at 13:30hrs the following day, while the return service, EK321, leaves Tokyo at 21:30hrs, landing in Dubai at 03:50hrs local time.

Read more-Travel smarter in 2026: Emirates lists key rules, advisories for global flyers

The additional frequency provides travellers with greater flexibility, including stopovers in Dubai, shorter connection times to European and Middle Eastern markets, and enhanced domestic connections across Japan.

The aircraft features upgraded interiors across four cabins, including 260 Economy seats, 24 Premium Economy, 40 Business Class suites in a 1-2-1 configuration, and eight First Class Suites. Passengers can enjoy regionally inspired Japanese cuisine and access more than 6,500 channels of on-demand entertainment via Emirates’ ice system.

Tickets are available on emirates.com, the Emirates App, or through travel agents and retail stores.

Since launching operations in Japan in 2002, Emirates has served Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda, and Osaka. From May 1, 2026, Emirates will provide over 22,500 weekly seats across 28 weekly flights to Japan, with 1,240 tonnes of weekly cargo capacity, supporting local businesses.

Earlier in February 2026, Emirates also expanded its Premium Chauffeur-drive service in Narita, which will be extended to Osaka starting March 1, 2026. Partnerships with Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways allow connectivity to 36 destinations, including 26 domestic and 10 regional points.

Etihad makes history with North America and Europe

Etihad Airways is similarly ramping up its network with landmark routes and strategic partnerships, announced throughout January 2026.

On January 29, 2026, Etihad announced the launch of the first nonstop flights between Abu Dhabi and Calgary, Canada, beginning 3 November 2026. The new route creates a direct link between the Middle East and Western Canada.

Antonoaldo Neves, Etihad CEO, said: “The launch of our Abu Dhabi–Calgary service is both a significant and historic step in Etihad’s global expansion. By creating the only nonstop link between the Middle East and Western Canada, we are opening new opportunities for trade, tourism and investment, while giving travellers direct access to two distinctive and globally important destinations.”

The flights, operating four times weekly using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, connect Calgary’s energy and innovation sectors with Abu Dhabi’s cultural and business hubs, while also providing leisure travellers direct access to the Canadian Rockies and Abu Dhabi’s year-round attractions.

Calgary Airports President Chris Dinsdale added: “This direct route is key to connecting our region’s leisure and business travellers to important locations in the Middle East, as well as a wealth of linked destinations in Africa, Asia and around the world.”

Luxembourg: A European first for Etihad

Earlier, on January 9, 2026, Etihad announced a historic new route to Luxembourg, marking the first time a Middle Eastern airline will serve the Grand Duchy. Services will commence October 29, 2026, offering nonstop flights between Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg Airport.

Neves highlighted the significance: “For the first time, Luxembourg will be directly connected to the Middle East, with Etihad as the only airline offering a nonstop link to Abu Dhabi. This route is about more than connectivity – it is about building new bridges between Europe and the UAE, unlocking opportunities for business, tourism and cultural exchange.”

Flights will operate three times weekly on the A321LR, featuring First Suites, lie-flat Business seats, and next-generation Economy with 4K screens and high-speed Wi-Fi.

The Luxembourg route strengthens Etihad’s European footprint and enhances connectivity for travellers from Luxembourg, France, Germany, Belgium, and beyond.

Full details: etihad.com

Strengthening North African links through codeshare partnerships

On 16 January 2026, Etihad and Tunisair signed a codeshare agreement to expand travel between North Africa and Abu Dhabi. The agreement applies to Etihad’s three weekly Abu Dhabi–Tunis flights, which began November 1, 2025, allowing seamless booking under either airline code, one check-in, and automatic baggage transfer.

Neves said: “Partnering with Tunisair brings Abu Dhabi closer to travellers across North Africa. This codeshare gives Tunisair’s customers access to our service and product, making Abu Dhabi an easier destination to reach.”

Halima Ibrahim Khouaja, CEO of Tunisair, added: “Through this partnership, we are opening new travel opportunities for our customers by connecting the Maghreb and Africa to the Gulf. Abu Dhabi is a strategic market for Tunisair, and our collaboration with Etihad further expands the range of connections available to passengers across our network.”

Etihad now has over 40 codeshare partnerships globally, connecting travellers to more than 500 destinations worldwide.

More information: etihad.com

A new era of connectivity

With these new routes and enhanced services announced between January and February 2026, Emirates and Etihad are reshaping how the world travels from and through the UAE. Whether it’s doubling Tokyo frequencies, opening historic nonstop services to Calgary and Luxembourg, or forging strategic partnerships with regional carriers like Tunisair, UAE airlines are setting a benchmark for global connectivity, trade, and tourism.

The expansion demonstrates a commitment to innovation and service excellence, reinforcing the UAE’s role as a central gateway connecting East and West, North and South, and bridging cultures across continents.

After reaching an all-time high of $126,500 in October 2025, bitcoin has continued to slide as broader risk-off sentiment spills into the crypto market.

Heightened geopolitical tensions, macroeconomic uncertainty and disappointing earnings forecasts have led investors to reassess risk assets, including technology stocks and crypto, while the liquidation of leveraged long positions has further accelerated the downturn.

After breaking multiple support levels, bitcoin is now trading just below $70,000 and remains under significant selling pressure.

From a technical perspective, analysts are closely watching bitcoin’s 200-week moving average as a potential area where the price could find a bottom. Historically, this level has acted as strong support following major corrections and bear markets in 2015, 2018, 2020 during the Covid pandemic, and most recently in 2022.

Could history repeat itself in 2026? It remains to be seen. Once leverage is flushed out of the system, selling pressure eases and ETF inflows resume, this could help stabilise prices and signal the end of the current correction.

From an on-chain perspective, the widely used MVRV Z-score — which assesses whether bitcoin is trading above or below its fair value — is also pointing towards a potential long-term buying opportunity.

Read: Bitcoin tumbles below $70,000, wiping out gains since Trump 2024 win

J.P. Morgan Private Bank released its 2026 Global Family Office Report on February 4, providing insights from 333 family offices across 30 countries with an average net worth of $1.6bn.

The report highlights priorities, prospects, and strategies shaping family offices worldwide, focusing on portfolio allocations, succession, and strategic and operational foundations.

Sixty-five per cent of family offices plan to prioritise artificial intelligence investments, though over 50 per cent currently have no exposure to growth equity or venture capital.

More than 70 per cent have no investments in infrastructure.

Christophe Aba, international head of Investments & Advice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said: “To fully capture the AI opportunity, investors should look beyond the mega-cap leaders and focus on the enablers driving the supply chain, from semiconductors and power infrastructure to networking and cooling systems. Equally important is private market exposure, where the top ten AI companies are already valued at around $1.5tn, underscoring that much of AI’s future value is still being created outside public markets.”

Inflation is driving allocations toward alternatives, with the most concerned offices allocating nearly 60 per cent of their capital to hedge funds and real estate. Geopolitical risk is cited by 64 per cent as the top concern, though 72 per cent of family offices have no gold exposure and 89 per cent hold no cryptocurrencies.

Family business-owning offices show stronger governance, with 48 per cent establishing formal structures compared to 40 per cent of non-business-owning peers.

Internal conflict is cited as a top risk by 41 per cent of business-owning families versus 23 per cent of non-business owners. Less than half of offices (48 per cent) include their operating company in investment decisions.

Succession planning remains a concern for family offices: Report

Succession planning remains a concern, with 53 per cent of business-owning families identifying it as a top issue and 86 per cent of family offices globally lacking a clear succession plan for key decision makers. Elisa Shevlin Rizzo, Head of Family Office Advisory at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said: “The greatest risks for family offices often arise from missed synergies, overly lean staffing and a lack of holistic risk management. These challenges become even more pronounced as economic and generational transitions accelerate.”

Family offices face rising operational complexity. The average annual operating cost is $3m, rising to $6.6m for offices with over $1bn in assets.

External services such as legal (52 per cent), trading (45 per cent), and cybersecurity (38 per cent) account for 25–28 per cent of costs.

Eighty per cent of family offices outsource some aspect of portfolio management, and over one-third of offices with $1bn or more in assets outsource more than half of their portfolios. Cybersecurity is cited as the greatest service need by 32 per cent.

The report details global portfolio allocations: 38.4 per cent in public equities, 30.8 per cent in private investments (including 3.3 per cent in growth equity and venture capital, 0.7 per cent in infrastructure), 14.8 per cent in fixed income, 7.8 per cent in cash, 4.7 per cent in hedge funds, 1.3 per cent in commodities, 1 percent in art/collectibles, 0.9 per cent in other, and 0.4 per cent in crypto/digital assets.

William Sinclair, global co-head of the Family Office Practice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, said: “Through serving the world’s most prominent families across generations and jurisdictions, we have a unique vantage point into their greatest aspirations. This report reflects their perspectives and priorities, offering a window into how family offices are shaping their futures.”

Natacha Minniti, global co-head of the Family Office Practice at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, added: “While family offices everywhere are facing similar headwinds, their actions vary regionally. What stands out globally is a clear risk-on attitude. Not surprisingly, AI is the top investment theme, yet 57 per cent of respondents have no exposure to growth and venture capital – where much of the innovation happens.”

The report provides detailed insights into regional risk rankings, portfolio exposures, and operating patterns across family offices globally, including in the US, LATAM, APAC, and EMEA.

As the UAE accelerates its push toward Net Zero 2050, heavy industry sits at the centre of the challenge and the opportunity. Steel and cement remain foundational to growth, but they are also among the most carbon-intensive sectors globally. For EMSTEEL, one of the region’s largest integrated steel and building materials producers, decarbonisation is not a future ambition but an operational reality already playing out at scale.

In this interview, engineer Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, group CEO of EMSTEEL, explains how the company is embedding sustainability into core industrial processes across steel and cement, from hydrogen-ready production and carbon capture to circular material use and verified emissions data.

Al Remeithi also outlines EMSTEEL’s role in supporting the UAE’s industrial strategy, its alignment with national transformation agendas, and how competitiveness and sustainability are increasingly inseparable in the next phase of manufacturing.

How is EMSTEEL translating its sustainability commitments into tangible industrial-scale outcomes across steel and cement, and what differentiates your approach in the UAE market?

We treat sustainability as an operational and governance priority, not a branding exercise. Every claim is grounded in measured performance, verified data, and independent assurance.

In the steel business, this approach is realised through the natural gas based DRI-EAF primary production route, which inherently emits less CO₂ than conventional coal blast furnaces; this, in combination with operational carbon capture, increased levels clean energy utilisation and energy efficiency targets and measures, position the company at a third-party-verified carbon intensity of 0.67 tonnes of CO₂ per tonne of steel in 2024, or around 45 per cent below the global average of the World Steel Association CO2 Program. In addition, all of its steel products come with third-party-verified product-level Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). In cement, emissions reduction is driven by energy-efficiency measures, alternative fuels and raw materials, and the phased use of clean electricity.

Across the group, EMSTEEL targets a 40 per cent reduction in steel emissions and 30 per cent in cement by 2030 versus a 2019 baseline, advancing toward net zero by 2050. Clean power remains central: in 2025, 89 per cent of Emirates Steel’s and 29 per cent of Emirates Cement’s electricity came from clean sources through IRECs.

What differentiates us in the UAE market is the integration of sustainability and decarbonisation directly into industrial operations, supported by verified data, transparent reporting and realistic transition planning. This is reinforced by EMSTEEL becoming the first steelmaker in the MENA region to achieve ResponsibleSteel site certification, providing independent verification of responsible production practices at the site level, and by the group’s provisional AA ESG rating from MSCI, reflecting strong performance across environmental, social and governance criteria relative to global peers.

With green hydrogen and low-carbon manufacturing gaining momentum globally, how is EMSTEEL integrating these technologies into its operations, and what challenges or opportunities are most significant?

Low-carbon manufacturing is embedded in EMSTEEL’s industrial strategy. In steelmaking, EMSTEEL operates on direct reduced iron and electric arc furnace technologies, which provide a structurally lower-emissions starting point and are hydrogen-compatible.

Building on this, EMSTEEL became the first steelmaker in the region to integrate carbon capture, utilisation and storage in partnership with ADNOC Al Reyadah and subsequently completed the region’s first green hydrogen steelmaking pilot with Masdar, confirming hydrogen readiness in iron reduction without compromising product quality. This capability has progressed into a real application, with hydrogen-based low-carbon rebar supplied to Abu Dhabi’s first net-zero carbon mosque.

Across steel and cement, circularity focuses not only on scrap, but on maximising material efficiency and by-product recovery across the DRI–EAF value chain. In 2025, EMSTEEL achieved 100 per cent recycling of its steel by-products, with no steel by-products sent to landfill.

The opportunity for EMSTEEL is to build on its existing hydrogen, carbon capture and traceability capabilities to supply low-emission steel and cement products that meet emerging green procurement and carbon reporting requirements. The challenge is ensuring these technologies remain commercially viable as clean energy and hydrogen supply systems continue to develop.

Circular economy initiatives are increasingly central to industrial sustainability. How is the company embedding circularity into production and material use, and what measurable impact has been achieved so far?

We embed circularity through the integration of EMSTEEL’s steel and cement operations. Steelmaking slag is reused as a key input in cement production, reducing waste, lowering raw material consumption and improving lifecycle environmental performance.

A key example of this approach is our industrial-scale pilot with Magsort at the Al Ain cement plant, where approximately 10,000 tonnes of materials developed by incorporating steel slag are planned to be used to produce decarbonised cement, demonstrating the practical viability of circular material flows at scale. This project reinforces our commitment to sustainability and directly contributes to lowering Scope 1 carbon dioxide emissions through the reuse of steel residues in clinker and cement production.

Material efficiency is another important lever. Higher-strength grades such as ES600 allow the same structural performance to be achieved with less steel, directly reducing embodied carbon while maintaining safety and durability.

These measures strengthen resource efficiency and lower lifecycle environmental impact across EMSTEEL’s integrated production system, showcasing a commercial circular economy model that links steel and cement in a value-creating way.

How is EMSTEEL aligning with the UAE’s broader industrial strategy and Net Zero 2050 vision, and what role does the Group play in supporting national sustainability goals?

As one of the region’s largest integrated steel and building materials producers, EMSTEEL plays a strategic role in advancing the UAE’s industrial economy in line with Operation 300bn, Make it in the Emirates, and the Net Zero 2050 vision. We support the country’s downstream manufacturing ecosystem by supplying around 90 per cent of the wire rod and heavy sections required by local manufacturers across energy, infrastructure and construction.

Today, EMSTEEL contributes a significant share of Abu Dhabi’s non-oil industrial output and continues to hold a leading position in the UAE steel market, reflecting its central role in supporting major strategic projects.

At the centre of our operations is the UAE’s only fully integrated DRI–EAF steel complex, enabling higher efficiency, lower emissions and globally competitive production. By integrating steel and cement operations, prioritising local procurement, and investing in Emirati talent, EMSTEEL strengthens in‑country value, industrial resilience and long-term economic diversification.

Our role is to show that sustainable manufacturing is not separate from competitiveness; it is a core driver of it.

Looking back at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2026, which sustainability trends most influenced EMSTEEL’s priorities, and what were the key initiatives and partnerships the Group highlighted during the event?

Three trends are shaping EMSTEEL’s strategic priorities. The first trend is the global shift from ambition to delivery. Stakeholders, from regulators to customers, are now prioritising tangible decarbonisation progress rather than long-term commitments alone. EMSTEEL showcased its advancements in lower‑carbon steelmaking, hydrogen‑ready operations, and integration pathways for carbon capture as part of its transition toward cleaner, more efficient industrial systems.

The second trend is the increasing importance of verified carbon data and traceability. As mechanisms like CBAM move into full implementation, transparent product-level disclosures have become essential. EMSTEEL highlighted its TrueGreen sustainability identity, which consolidates its low-carbon product offering and transparency commitments, supported by independently verified Environmental Product Declarations and corporate emissions reporting. This is complemented by ResponsibleSteel site certification, providing independent assurance of responsible production practices and strengthening customer confidence across global markets.

The third trend is the convergence of sustainability and competitiveness. Decarbonisation now influences market access, investment and long-term resilience. EMSTEEL demonstrated how advanced materials, circularity and technology integration position the company for a low‑carbon future.

At Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2026, we strengthened our collaboration ecosystem through two strategic MoUs, where we signed an agreement with MERED to pilot high‑strength reinforcement steel in upcoming real estate developments, and an MoU with Modon to assess advanced, high-yield and low-carbon steel solutions for future projects.

Gold and silver rose on Friday, even as they headed for a second week of declines after a global tech stock rout and a stronger US dollar wiped out the precious metals’ gains made during a brief rebound earlier this week.

Spot gold rose 1.1 per cent to $4,822.69 per ounce by 0320 GMT, down 1.2 per cent for the week. US gold futures for April delivery fell 1 per cent to $4,840.40 per ounce.

Spot silver was up 0.4 per cent at $71.50 an ounce after a 19.1 per cent drop in the last session.

Read more-Why gold and silver crashed, wiping out trillions

Friday’s session was a volatile one for silver with prices rising as much as 3 per cent after having fallen 10 per cent to below the $65-level, a more than 1-1/2-month low.

The white metal was down almost 16 per cent for the week. Last week it shed 18 per cent in its biggest weekly fall since 2011.

“Risk appetite does look diminished, stocks are down, and obviously, we’re seeing Bitcoin just come apart at the seams. There’s all kinds of evidence that risk sentiment in general is weakening. In this environment, gold is kind of holding its own and silver is caving in under the risk-off,” said Ilya Spivak, head of global macro at Tastylive.

Global equities extended losses into a third session as a selloff on Wall Street intensified, with precious metals and cryptocurrencies gripped by wrenching volatility.

“There was a sharp fall in (precious metal) prices yesterday, and now it’s rebounding, so it’s not like something has changed overnight. The correction in gold and silver prices came at the right time, just before Chinese New Year. So we could see more buying by Chinese consumers,” said ANZ analyst Soni Kumari, adding that near-term volatility can continue until some unwinding of weak positions.

The US dollar steadied near a two-week high and was poised for its strongest weekly performance since November. A stronger dollar makes greenback-priced assets more expensive for other currency holders.