Etihad Airways – First Airline in World with 100% of Flight Crew Vaccinated : February 2021

 Etihad Airways, the UAE national airline, has become the first airline in the world with all its operating pilots and cabin crew vaccinated to help curb the spread of COVID-19.


In January 2021, Etihad was awarded Diamond status for ensuring the highest standards of cleanliness and sanitisation in the inaugural ‘APEX Health Safety, powered by SimpliFlying’ audit.

This achievement was made possible through Etihad’s ‘Protected Together’ employee vaccination initiative which was formally launched in January this year.

Building on the UAE’s “Choose to Vaccinate” campaign, Protected Together is about helping staff take proactive, personal steps towards protecting themselves against COVID-19.

source: www.wam.ae

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pix: wam.ae

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ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UAE Makes History, Becomes 5th Nation in the World to Reach Mars. First Arab Nation : February 09th, 2021

“If you ventured in pursuit of glory, don’t be satisfied with less than the stars.”

The Iraqi poet – Al Mutanabbi’s writings were chosen by Nasa to congratulate the Hope probe project team.

Those words were chosen by US space agency Nasa in a congratulatory tweet to the UAE Mars Mission team after its Hope probe successfully entered the Red Planet’s orbit on Tuesday, February 09th, 2021.

Nasa told the UAE: “Congratulations on arriving at Mars!” before using the words quoted above.

Who is the Arab poet Al Mutanabbi ?

The man behind the words is the 10th century Iraqi poet Al Mutanabbi, considered to be the greatest in the Arabic language.

Born into a distinguished family in Kufa in 915 AD, Abu Al Tayyib Ahmad ibn Al Husayn Al Mutanabbi received an education because of his poetic talents. He is remembered in the country of his birth. A street is named after him, which is a historic bookselling centre of Baghdad. A statue of him still stands in the Iraqi capital today

source: thenationalnews.com

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Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid personally thank staff from mission control in Dubai. / The National / pix: thenationalnews.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E.)

Essam Heggy – Space and Planetary Scientist at NASA

Dr Essam Heggy . Space and Planetary Scientist.

His main science interests in space and planetary geophysics covers Mars, the Moon, icy satellites and Near Earth Objects.

A member of the several NASA and ESA missions science teams including the MARSIS instrument aboard the Mars Express orbiter (2003-present), the Mini-SAR experiment aboard Chandrayaan-1, the Mini-RF experiment on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (2008-present), the CONSERT radar experiment on board the Rosetta mission (2004-2015) and the RIME experiment Onboard JUICE mission for Jupiter Icy Satellites .

Heggy is the Principal Investigator of the NASA Earth Venture Mission Concept OASIS that aims to characterize groundwater in Hyper-Arid Environments .

Heggy served as a panel member for several NASA programs including the Planetary Instrument Definition and Development program, Planetary Geology and Geophysics program, Mars Data Analysis program, Astrobiology program and the Educational and Public Outreach program.

He also edited a special JGR-planets volume on terrestrial and planetary radars. He is on the editing board of Geosciences and National Geography and co-chaired several sessions in American Geophysical Union and other international meetings on planetary radars.

Education:

  • Ph.D – Astronomy and Planetary Science – Paris-Sorbonne University, Paris (2002)

Award/ Honours :

  • JPL/NASA Mariner Award
  • Served as Egyptian President Advisor for Scientific Affairs (2013-2014)

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pix: en.wikipedia.org

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U.S.A / FRANCE / EGYPT / EGYPTIAN AMERICAN / ARAB AMERICAN

dnata Inaugurates state-of-the-art Cargo Complex at Manchester Airport

dnata has announced the opening of a new, state-of-the art cargo complex, dnata City North, at Manchester Airport (MAN). Representing an investment of over GBP 30 million, the 150,000 sq ft² facility allows the company to significantly expand and consolidate its Manchester operations.

Alex Doisneau, Managing Director of dnata UK, said, “We are thrilled to announce the opening of another world-class cargo facility in a strategic location in the UK.

Our new, purpose-built facility in Manchester complements our existing multiple UK operations including the dnata City complex at London Heathrow, enabling customers to enhance their operations in the region.

souce: wam.ae

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pic: wam.ae

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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

Record of Fastest 300 km by Speed Boat Record held by Qatari – Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani and Abdullah al-Sulaiti

The fastest 300 km by speed boat is 1 hour 55 minutes and 14 seconds and was achieved by Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor al-Thani and Abdullah al-Sulaiti .

The event was organised by Qatar Marine Sports Federation in Doha on 10 February 2010. 

The route, pre-approved by Guinness World Records, was from Abu Dhabi to Doha, Qatar.

The boat used was a twin gas turbine engine Nor-Tech speed boat named Qatar Challenger. The engines on the boat are also used on Cobra helicopters.

source: guinnessworldrecords.com

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pix: m.facebook.com /QatarDay

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QATAR

Aviation Business Awards 2020 – December 15th, 2020

13 Winners of the 14th Aviation Business Awards 2020 were presented at the gala at JW Mariott Marquis, Dubai.

  • Lifetime Achievement Award – Presented to : Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates
  • Pride of Aviation Award : Etihad Engineering
  • Airline of the Year : Emirates
  • Airport of the Year : Dubai International Airport
  • Low-cost Airline of the Year : Air Arabia
  • Environmental Initiative of the Year : Etihad Airways
  • Training Provider of the Year : Etihad Aviation Training
  • Fixed Base Operator of the Year : Jetex
  • Business Aircraft Operator of the Year : Empire Aviation Group
  • MRO Service Provider of the Year : Sanad Aerotech
  • Ground Support Service of the Year : Dnata
  • Technological Innovation of the Year : Honeywell
  • Engineering Achievement of the Year : Strata Manufacturing

source: aviationbusinessme.com

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Sir Tim Clark, president of Emirates, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Aviation Business Awards 2020. Image: ITP Media Group

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Egypt’s Tahya Misr Fund Breaks the Record for the ‘World’s Largest Humanitarian Aid Convoy : December 2020

Egypt’s Tahya Misr Fund sets a new record for the World’s Largest Aid Convoy with 470 trucks carrying food and other essentials on behalf of ‘The Long Live Egypt Fund’.

The Record was certified by Guinness World Records.

The convoy set off on November 20th, 2020 to poor villages in the 27 Egyptian governorates to distribute food. It had 1 million cartons of foodstuffs, 2,000 tons of poultry, 1 million blankets, over 500,000 items of clothing, 1,500 dialysis machines to serve 120,000 patients and 1,000 wheel chairs for distribution.

The cost of the ‘The Long Live Egypt Fund’ initiative had reached EGP 1 billion (USD 63.88 million) and is dedicated to serving 1 million citizens.

The previous record holder was the Netherlands with 416 trucks since 2004.

Another Record Broken:

The largest poultry donation convoy in the world

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pix: see.news

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EGYPT

UAE Satellite ‘Falcon Eye 2’ launched into Space to mark UAE’s 49th National Day – December 02nd, 2020

UAE’s latest satellite Falcon Eye 2 lifted off into space on a Russian Soyuz ST-A rocket from French Guiana Space Centre, South America on December 02nd, 2020 at 0533am UAE time.

It is now the 4th reconnaissance satellite launched in the UAE.

The space craft will provide high-definition images from around the world for military and civilian use.

The 1,190 kilogram satellite was built by Airbus Defence & Space and Thales Alenia Space in Toulouse, France. The UAE Space Agency oversaw its development.

This was a part of the Falcon eye programme, where two identical satellites were built for the UAE Armed Forces.

The first was Falcon Eye 1 which was lost in space last year after the Italian Vega rocket that carried it failed.

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pix: thenationalnews.com

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UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)

World’s First Airbus A330-800 Delivered to Kuwait Airways on October 29th, 2020

Kuwait Airways, the national airline of Kuwait took delivery of the world’s first Airbus A330-800 aircraft on October 29th, 2020.

The two aircraft the airline received are the first of eight scheduled to join the Kuwait Airways fleet, which will position it as the world’s largest operator of the type.

The Kuwait Airways aircraft A330-800 will acommodate 235 passenger, featuring 32 fully flat beds in Business Class and 203 spacious seats in Economy with a large capacity cargo hold.

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Kuwait Airways A330-800 lifting off on its delivery flight. (Photo: Airbus) / airlinegeeks.com

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KUWAIT

World’s Largest Wooden Dhow ‘Obaid’. Built in Dubai (U.A.E) – October 2020

‘Obaid’ built in Dubai, is named after the Emirati shipbuilder Obaid Jumaa bin Majid Al-Falasi. It has been certified by Guinness Book of World Records as the ‘World’s largest wooden Arabic Dhow’.

For the record the late Emirati shipbuilder Obaid Juma started his apprenticeship in the1940’s at the age of nine (9).

The dhow measured 91 meters long and more than 20 meters wide. The vessel is 11.22 meters high and weighs 2,500 tonnes. The ‘Obaid’ is powered by two 1,850 horsepower engines and built for speed of 14 knots . Built from approximately 1,700 tonnes of wood and 800 tonnes of steel and is scheduled to carry cargo.

This record breaking marvel is a handmade boat, built in a country with no forests. A modern adaptation is adding steel to the wooden structure.

The ship builder is Majid Obaid Al-Falasi the Managing Director of Majid Obaid Bin Majid Al Falasi & Sons, UAE.

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pix: arabnews.com

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DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (U.A.E)