In Brief
Second British tour operator ceases trading A small British tour operator specializing in holidays in Turkey has ceased operations just days after the collapse of another group, XL Leisure, left 85,000 holidaymakers stranded worldwide, regulators said Sunday. The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said K&S Travel ceased trading late on Saturday, leaving 150 passengers in the Turkish beach resort of Bodrum requiring alternative flights home. The London-based firm, which also trades as Travel Turkey, primarily organizes package tours to Turkey with flights chartered through Onur Air. Its collapse is a further headache for the CAA, which is in the midst of airlifting thousands of people affected by the collapse on Thursday of XL, Britain’s third-largest holiday company. Thousands of XL customers were still stranded yesterday in Mediterranean resorts and Florida. XL said it had fallen victim to soaring fuel costs and the credit crunch. British Airways CEO Willie Walsh has predicted that another 30 airlines will go bust by the end of the year as fuel costs continue to rise and people book fewer foreign trips as they cut their spending. (AFP) Azerbaijani president heads to Russia for talks Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will make a working visit to Russia tomorrow at the invitation of his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, the Kremlin said in a statement Saturday. The statement did not include an agenda for the visit and a Kremlin spokeswoman declined to tell AFP what topics would be discussed. Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic, neighbors war-torn Georgia, which was attacked and partially occupied by Russian troops last month in a conflict that provoked a deep chill in Moscow’s relations with the West. Azerbaijan has walked a fine line in its relations with Russia, neither condemning nor supporting the military campaign in Georgia. Last week, US Vice President Dick Cheney visited Azerbaijan in a tour of the Caucasus region where he stressed the need for energy security. Azerbaijan exports much of its oil to the West through Georgia. (AFP) Saudi property Dubai Capital Group, an asset manager owned by Dubai’s ruler, invested 500 million dirhams ($136 million) in a Saudi property company and said Middle East shares were «cheap» and a buying opportunity. Dubai Capital took a 20 percent stake in Mazaya Saudi for Commercial Investment Co LLC, a unit of Kuwait’s Mazaya Holding Co KSCC, to tap into the opportunity in Saudi Arabian real estate, Mustafa Farid Geninah, Dubai Capital’s CEO, said in a phone interview yesterday. Demand for housing in Saudi Arabia, the biggest Arab economy, is expected to surge, helped by rising oil wealth. Some 1.3 million new dwelling units will be needed until 2015 in the kingdom, where only 45 percent of families own homes. (Bloomberg) Hospital funding Abraaj Capital Ltd, the Dubai-based buyout company managing $5 billion, will partner Abu Dhabi Capital Group to help fund the expansion of Acibadem Saglik Hizmetleri & Ticaret AS, the Turkish hospital operator. Abraaj, which owns 70 percent of Acibadem, and Abu Dhabi Capital’s unit Capital Investment LLC will accelerate the Turkish company’s development in the Mideast. (Bloomberg)
