Saudi Ports Authority to develop $79m logistics zone at Dammam port

DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways is not seeing any effects from the turmoil caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies, its CEO Antonoaldo Neves told Reuters on Monday, while adding it was too early to fully gauge the impact of the levies.

Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on dozens of US trading partners this month — and then his pausing of most of them — created widespread market uncertainty and raised fears of a global economic downturn.

Neves said Etihad had recorded strong seat occupancy levels in recent weeks despite the trade tensions, and that the volatility could even create opportunities in some instances.

He expects more Europeans, for example, to take advantage of the euro’s recent gains against the dollar and the Gulf region’s dollar-pegged currencies to travel.

“It means that the euro now is stronger when you compare it to the Middle Eastern currency ... So I expect to see more Europeans coming,” Neves said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market fair in Dubai.

Neves’ comments echo Riyadh Air, which said earlier on Monday that global economic uncertainty had not reduced demand for travel to the Saudi capital.

If tariff-induced turmoil does impact passenger numbers, Neves said Etihad, which has a fleet of around 100 aircraft, had a contingency plan and could rely on its flexibility.

“About 60 percent of our planes are unencumbered, so they’re all fully paid for. If I get a crisis one day, I park planes ... and save 75 percent of the cost,” he said.

At a press conference earlier on Monday, Neves said Etihad planned to add 20 to 22 new planes this year, as it aims to expand its fleet to more than 170 planes by 2030 and boost Abu Dhabi’s economic diversification strategy.

The UAE’s capital is investing heavily in sectors like tourism to cut its dependence on oil revenues, and in 2023 it launched a new terminal at Zayed International Airport that tripled the hub’s annual capacity to 45 million passengers.

Etihad, which is owned by Abu Dhabi’s $225 billion wealth fund ADQ, has been through a multi-year restructuring and management shake-up, but has expanded under Neves.

He said that 10 of this year’s new aircraft would be Airbus A321LRs, which the carrier launched on Monday and will start operating in August. The remainder include six Airbus A350s and four Boeing 787s.

Airlines in recent years have been plagued by delayed plane deliveries as manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus struggled with the pace of orders in a post-pandemic travel boom, among other issues.

Neves, who declined to give specifics on the order pipeline, said he was not happy with the delays but that they were not compromising the airline's growth plans.

Etihad is always in talks with planemakers, he said, when asked whether the carrier could be interested in acquiring some of the dozens of planes that Boeing is looking to resell after they were locked out of China due to tariffs.

RIYADH: Jordan registered 20 patents and nearly 1,000 trademarks in the first quarter of the year, building on 2024’s totals of 111 and 5,687, respectively, according to official data.

Of the patents logged between January and March, one was a local innovation, signaling continued growth in domestic research and development, Jordan News Agency reported. 

The data also revealed 999 new trademarks were registered, while 1,608 existing trademarks were renewed during the same period. The previous year saw the renewal of 6,245 trademarks, Petra added.

In addition to new registrations, the Industrial Property Protection Directorate at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Supply renewed 138 patents, issued five industrial property licenses, processed 310 requests for name and address changes, and approved the transfer of ownership for 499 industrial properties.

In the most recent rankings from the World Intellectual Property Organization, covering 2023, Jordan was placed 58th globally for patent applications, with residents filing 21 patents, a 16 percent decrease from the previous year.

Pharmaceuticals dominated technical fields, accounting for 37.8 percent of patents, followed by medical technology. 

Trademark filings showed stronger momentum, reaching 5,640 in 2023, with residents driving nearly 70 percent of registrations. 

The US, Saudi Arabia, and China were top foreign destinations for Jordanian IP filings, underscoring global commercial ties. 

Challenges persist, including low resident applications per gross domestic product and a modest share of women inventors. Yet, universities contributed 47.3 percent of Patent Cooperation Treaty applications, pointing to academia’s pivotal role in research and development.

The latest data from WIPO showed that Saudi Arabia recorded 6,496 patent applications in 2023 — a 31 percent annual increase — ranking 27th globally. 

Residents in the Kingdom drove nearly half of these filings, with civil engineering accounting for 21.9 percent and chemicals for 12.3 percent. 

Saudi Arabia also registered 37,068 trademark filings, reflecting robust commercial activity, although women inventors accounted for just 7.8 percent of patents.

The UAE demonstrated dynamic growth, particularly in trademarks, with 30,472 filings, and patents, with 992 applications. 

Qatar’s IP activity remained modest but specialized, with 180 patent applications and 3,155 trademark filings in 2023.