Emirates has reaffirmed its commitment to hiring more than 1,500 new pilots over the next two years.

According to a WAM report, the announcement was made on May 1—World Pilots’ Day—when the airline also honored the resilience and dedication of its pilots and the aviation community worldwide. This move comes as Emirates enters a new phase of growth and global expansion.

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The airline is building on the success of its Accelerated Command Programme, which fast-tracks First Officers to the role of Captain. More than 80 pilots are currently progressing through this command upgrade.

Aspiring aviators joining this world-class community can expect a suite of thoughtfully curated, industry-leading benefits.

World’s youngest, most modern fleet

Emirates pilots operate the world’s youngest and most modern fleet, consisting of 261 all-wide-body aircraft, including Airbus A380s, Boeing 777s, and the airline’s latest addition—the A350.

Flying to 148 global destinations

Emirates pilots connect major cities such as San Francisco and Sydney to tranquil destinations like the Maldives and Mauritius, serving over 148 destinations across six continents.

Office at 40,000 feet

From dense forests and vast deserts to the Himalayas, oceans, and even the aurora borealis, every journey offers a unique experience. Emirates pilots also enjoy the “best office in the world” with breathtaking views from 40,000 feet.

Competitive benefits and salary

Emirates offers its pilots a competitive, tax-free salary with profit-sharing incentives. Additional benefits include a world-class provident fund, retirement plans, and comprehensive life, medical, and dental coverage.

Pilot roles available

In line with its ambitious growth plans, Emirates is hiring experienced pilots under four key programmes:

• Direct Entry Captains
• Accelerated Command
• First Officers (Type Rated)
• First Officers (Non-Type Rated)

New recruits will join a community of over 4,600 flight crew members.

Global roadshows for recruitment

Since early 2022, Emirates has welcomed nearly 2,000 new pilots. This year, the airline’s recruitment team plans to host roadshows in more than 40 cities, aiming to hire over 550 pilots. Following recent sessions in Italy, upcoming stops include Norway, Finland, and Sweden in May.

Job openings at Emirates

Current vacancies across various categories include:

• Airline & Airport Operations: 33 jobs available
• Corporate: 25 jobs available
• Information Technology: 27 jobs available
• Cabin Crew: 1 job available
• Customer Services: 5 jobs available
• Pilots: 5 jobs available
• Commercial: 28 jobs available
• Engineering: 20 jobs available
• UAE Nationals: 18 jobs available

A stablecoin launched by Donald Trump’s World Liberty Financial crypto venture is being used by an Abu Dhabi investment firm for its $2bn investment in crypto exchange Binance, one of World Liberty’s co-founders said on Thursday.

It’s the latest in a series of Trump family crypto-related ventures, including a “meme coin” launched in January, that have drawn criticism from government ethics experts and political opponents over potential conflicts of interest.

World Liberty, which aims to allow people to access financial services without intermediaries like banks, said in March it would launch USD1, a dollar-pegged stablecoin backed by US Treasuries, dollars and other cash equivalents.

Speaking at a crypto conference in Dubai, Zach Witkoff, co-founder of World Liberty, said USD1 would be used to close the $2bn investment by Abu Dhabi-based MGX into Binance, the world’s biggest crypto exchange.

“We are excited to announce today that USD1 has been selected as the official stablecoin to close MGX’s $2bn investment in Binance,” said Witkoff, who is a son of Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.

Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren sharply criticised the venture and pending US legislation on stablecoins before the Republican-controlled Senate.

A fund “backed by a foreign government just announced it will make a $2bn deal using Donald Trump’s stablecoins,” said Warren, a member of the US Senate Banking Committee.

“Meanwhile, the Senate is gearing up to pass the ‘GENIUS’ Act – stablecoin legislation that will make it easier for the President and his family to line their own pockets. This is corruption and no senator should support it.”

The White House and World Liberty Financial did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

The use of USD1 in the deal highlights World Liberty’s growing clout in the global crypto industry, and its ties to Binance. USD1 is issued on Binance’s blockchain.

Stablecoins are an increasingly lucrative cog in global crypto trading. Their issuers typically profit by earning interest from the Treasuries and other assets that underpin them.

The value of USD1 in circulation reached about $2.1bn on Wednesday, according to CoinMarketCap data, making it one of the fastest-growing stablecoins.

The identity of its major holders, however, remains unclear.

An anonymous cryptocurrency wallet that holds $2bn worth of USD1 received the funds between April 16 and 29, according to data from crypto research firm Arkham. Reuters could not ascertain the owner of this wallet.

Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was incarcerated in the United States last year after pleading guilty to violating US laws against money laundering, met Zach Witkoff and two other World Liberty co-founders in Abu Dhabi, according to a photo posted on social media site X on Sunday.

“It was great to see our friends,” in Abu Dhabi, posted Zhao in response to the photo, tagging Witkoff.

Zhao, who in 2023 stepped down from his role at Binance as part of a $4.3bn settlement with the US over the illicit finance charges, remains a major shareholder of Binance.

Tron intergation

Separately, Zach Witkoff announced that USD1 would be integrated into Tron, the blockchain of Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun.

Sun is the biggest known investor in World Liberty and an adviser to the venture, according to his social media posts, having poured at least $75m into the project.

Sun was fighting a US securities fraud lawsuit at the time of his first investment in World Liberty. The US Securities and Exchange Commission in February paused its case against him, citing public interest.

Sun moderated the panel on which Witkoff spoke on Thursday, with Trump’s son Eric Trump also on stage.

The US president, who campaigned on promises to be a “crypto president,” has pledged to overhaul federal rules on crypto.

Trump handed over management of his assets to his children before returning to the White House and he will have no role in day-to-day decision-making, his company has said.

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Emirates has not seen any impact from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but remains cautious due to ongoing uncertainty, the airline’s Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim told Reuters on Wednesday.

“Things are looking quite positive. But it’s something, again, you cannot ignore. There are so many uncertainties out there that we need to watch and monitor”, Kazim said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market show in Dubai.

Kazim said delays in aircraft deliveries had prompted Emirates to accelerate its $5bn fleet retrofitting programme, first announced in 2021, allowing it to maintain capacity amid surging demand and supply shortages.

“If Boeing planes had been delivered as per the schedule, we’d have had 90 aircraft flying”, he said.

Emirates, the largest airline in the United Arab Emirates and a key contributor to its economy, is the world’s biggest operator of Boeing 777 jets and one of the largest cargo carriers globally.

Asked whether Emirates would consider acquiring ordered aircraft that China may cancel in the wake of ongoing trade tensions, Kazim said each airline operates with specific design and business requirements.

“We cannot take other people’s or other companies’ aircraft for sure”, he added.

Boeing is looking to resell potentially dozens of planes locked out of China by tariffs after repatriating a third jet to the US in a delivery standoff that drew new criticism of Beijing from Trump.

Kazim added that the airline expects to receive between 12 and 15 new aircraft by the end of this summer, supporting further expansion of its global network.

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Crypto enthusiasts descended on Dubai on Wednesday hoping the industry’s buoyant mood can keep going despite signs the euphoria around Donald Trump’s crypto stance is ebbing.

Speakers at the two-day event in the desert city include chief executives at some of the world’s major crypto firms, the head of digital assets at BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, as well as the US president’s son, Eric Trump, who is set to take the stage on Thursday.

Once a crypto sceptic, the US president has vowed to support the industry by easing regulatory curbs and has even launched his own cryptocurrency, in a turnaround for the industry after a series of crypto company collapses in 2022.

Cryptocurrency prices surged to a record high after his election win, but have fallen this year. Bitcoin is down about 12 per cent from its peak as the global trade war and industry concerns that the pace of pro-crypto regulation under Trump is slower than expected, knocked sentiment.

Attendees at the TOKEN2049 conference, which is expected to attract around 15,000 people, thronged the venue, while a pair of camels rested unbothered by the loud tunes playing in the background.

They shared mixed feelings about Trump’s impact on the industry.

“In the long term, it’s going to be good for crypto, but it really relies on the world economy picking up again,” said Miklos Veszpremi, the chief operating officer of a web3-integrated streaming platform.

“I think that once the tariffs actually start hitting countries, there’s going to be a lot of pain, and we might be headed towards some difficult times,” he said.

Still, the industry enjoyed a strong start to the year as money poured in.

Global venture capital investments in crypto companies totalled $5.4bn in the first quarter of 2025, its best quarter since mid-2022, according to data from PitchBook.

Attendee Herbert R. Sim, wrapped in a bitcoin-themed jacket, said that predicting the impact of Trump policies on the crypto sector was very hard “but so far is on the regulation side of things.”

“Things are easing up in America,” he said, as developers, investors and crypto fans weaved past packed industry marketing booths and joined queues to glide on outside zip lines.

Crypto hub

The United Arab Emirates is quickly emerging as a key hub for crypto companies, with several setting up shop or seeking to expand.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, announced in March that Abu Dhabi-backed investment group MGX had made a $2bn crypto investment in it, deepening its ties with the UAE.

The exchange’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, who last year served four months in prison after pleading guilty to violating US laws against money laundering, was welcomed to the main stage with cheers from the audience.

Zhao stepped down as CEO of Binance as part of a $4.3bn settlement with US authorities but remains a major shareholder.

UAE authorities continue to promote crypto adoption.

Buyers for apartments in a new planned tower in Dubai the Trump Organization launched this week alongside a luxury real estate developer will be able to pay with bitcoin, Eric Trump said.

Dubai’s Emirates NBD bank recently launched crypto trading services on its digital arm Liv and one of the city’s largest free zones, the DMCC, which hosts more than 600 crypto firms, plans to open a “crypto tower” in early 2027 to host more.

“It’s much easier to do business here,” said Germany-based attendee Andre Liesenfeld, referring to Dubai.

Read more: Bitcoin will buy you a Trump Tower apartment in Dubai, says Eric Trump

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday it now expects Middle East and North Africa economies to grow by just 2.6 per cent in 2025 as uncertainties stemming from a global trade war and weaker oil prices weigh on the region.

The fresh projection marked a sharp downgrade from its October projection of 4 per cent growth and comes as the region grapples with geopolitical tensions, softer external demand and oil market volatility.

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“Uncertainty could impact the real economy, consumption, investment, all these elements led to a softening of our projections,” Jihad Azour, the IMF’s director for the Middle East and Central Asia department, told Reuters in an interview.

“The direct impact of the tariff measures is limited because the integration in terms of trade between the region and the US is limited.”

The IMF also pointed to a gradual recovery in oil production, protracted regional conflicts, and delayed structural reforms, particularly in Egypt, in its latest Regional Economic Outlook report released in Dubai.

“The ongoing conflicts in the MENA region have inflicted profound humanitarian costs and left deep economic scars,” it said in the report, adding that the impact has been severe for the region’s oil importing economies.

The MENA non-oil importers are now expected to see real GDP growth of 3.4 per cent in 2025, versus an earlier forecast of 3.6 per cent.

Diverging outlooks

Growth among non-Gulf Cooperation Council oil exporters is expected to slow by one percentage point in 2025 – a sharp downward revision – before staging a modest recovery in 2026.

On the other hand, GCC economies are projected to strengthen, though at a slower pace than anticipated in October, amid extended OPEC voluntary production cuts through April, a gradual phase-out by end-2026, and weaker non-oil activity.

“With all these changes and challenges, it’s important also to seek new trade partnerships,” Azour said, referring to the GCC, a bloc comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

IMF projects GCC’s GDP growth for 2025 at 3per cent, down from its October forecast of a 4.2 per cent increase.

GCC countries have stepped up efforts to diversify their economies, with major initiatives like Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and the UAE’s push into tourism, logistics and manufacturing aimed at reducing reliance on hydrocarbons.

“Trade diversification, acceleration of structural reforms, and improvement of productivity are all elements that will help the non-oil sector to maintain a strong level of growth,” Azour said.

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