Gulf Air adds Dreamliner to Jeddah route

Source: Gulf Air. Bahrain's national carrier launches state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on Jeddah, KSA route.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, has launched its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the airline’s Jeddah, KSA route. Gulf Air’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will service a number of regional routes over the coming weeks, including Jeddah and Dubai, UAE.

Gulf Air CEO Krešimir Kučko commented: “Gulf Air’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner service to and from Jeddah over the coming weeks will give our Saudi-based travellers the chance to experience our new and enhanced offering, which is in addition to Gulf Air’s attractive flight schedule, flexible and convenient travel proposition. The coming weeks will see us expanding further in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia with new routes to the cities of Abha and Tabuk, from 15 June 2018 which will complement our current service to Dammam, Riyadh, Madinah Al Munawarah, Jeddah and Gassim.

"Having served the kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 1950 Gulf Air recognises this is a critical market and accordingly we are delighted to provide superior travel solutions that cater to the travel needs of our Saudi passengers.”

Gulf Air’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners will offer 282 seats in a two-class configuration, with 26 Falcon Gold Class seats and 256 Economy Class seats – a 32% increase in capacity on the airline’s previous wide body offering. The new aircraft will facilitate the national carrier’s expansion plans to eight new routes this year, while maintaining one of the youngest fleets in the region, building upon its award-winning reliability, on time performance and product and service standards.

In 2018, Gulf Air’s network will serve 49 cities in 26 countries. Gulf Air is committed to being an industry leader, continually enhancing its services and tailoring a product offering that best fits its passengers’ needs.

TrueMoney now offers 13,500 service points in Indonesia

PT Witami Tunai Mandiri, the Indonesian operations of Southeast Asian fintech firm TrueMoney, has reached the milestone of 13,500 Indonesia customer service points.

Through these agent-managed service points TrueMoney provides a suite of e-money solutions, including depositing and withdrawing cash, paying for online purchases, and domestic fund transfers, which are fully compliant with Indonesian central bank regulations.

Alfamart, one of Indonesia’s largest convenience store operators, is TrueMoney’s latest partner, bringing its 13,168 outlets onto TrueMoney’s agent network. With TrueMoney’s suite of e-money solutions, Alfamart’s customers – many of which have no bank account or credit/debit card – can use digital financial services – pay, purchase, and transfer – that they may otherwise have no access to.

With this development TrueMoney has become one of the largest non-bank e-money providers in Indonesia, and the first non-bank fintech firm to hold a remittance license as well as a shari'ah-compliant e-money license, critical for reaching a large percentage of Indonesian consumers.

Nussy Aryanto, President of TrueMoney Indonesia said, “Far too many of Indonesia’s people have no, or very limited access to financial services. By being mobile first and working with a number of partners such as Alfamart, we are able to offer access, convenience and completely new financial products to this large population. Our mission is to bring basic financial services to every single Indonesian.”

According to the International Finance Corporation about 20%-25% of Indonesia’s 255 million population has a bank account, but there are around 325 million mobile subscriptions. With 85% of the population owning a mobile phone, about half of which are smartphones, digital mobile services delivered have the potential of reaching more people.

Hans Prawira, President of Alfamart said, “We have millions of customers across Indonesia, especially outside of major cities.We are always trying to serve their needs, and our partnership with TrueMoney will bring a whole new set of products and services that will improve our customers’ lives. It will now be much easier and cheaper for them to send and receive funds from relatives, using cash at our outlets; their lives will be changed.”

TrueMoney provides a number of e-payment services across Southeast Asia, including TrueMoney Wallet, WeCard (with MasterCard), TrueMoney Cash Card, kiosks, payment gateways, and remittances. It also provides cash-in and cash-out services, which are available at any of TrueMoney’s 13,500 agent locations in 10 provinces.

TrueMoney Indonesia has also introduced TrueMoney Remittance with Alphamart as the service provider. TrueMoney Remittance is a cash-to-cash service which allows customers to send and withdraw cash from any of Alphamart’s 13,168 stores.

TrueMoney launched its operations in Indonesia in June 2016. The partnership with Alfamart follows a number of significant partnerships across Indonesia, including with Samsung. TrueMoney is a subsidiary of Thailand-based Ascend Money, one of the largest fintech companies in Southeast Asia with over 20 million customers. Ascend Money is backed by Thailand’s CP Group and recently secured a 20% investment by ANT Financial Services Group, operator of China’s Alipay e-wallet.

Saudi Ministry of Finance unveils details of Grand Mosque expansion

A report from the Saudi Ministry of Finance has provided more details about the current expansion of the Makkah-based Grand Mosque, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Once the project as a whole is complete, the Grand Mosque will have a capacity of 1.85 million worshippers.

The Third Saudi Expansion of the Grand Mosque, which was launched by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is considered the largest-ever expansion of the area. It follows on from expansion projects initiated by late founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman and completed by the late monarchs King Saud and King Faisal.  

The Massaa (circumambulation passage) expansion is already complete. A number of projects are yet to be completed, including the Mataf (circumambulation) area, security buildings, and a hospital. 

The bridges and flyover area amount to 45,000 sq m and are expected to support 50,000 worshippers, while the 550,000 sq m services building will accommodate 310,000 worshippers. The eastern stairs area will span 263,000 sq m, large enough for 150,000 worshippers.

The Masaa area has been increased by 57,000 sq m to accommodate 70,000 worshippers, with the capacity of the mosque increasing from 44,000 people per hour at the circumambulation path to 118,000 people per hour.

The Mataf area has grown by 60,000 sq m to accommodate 90,000 worshippers. The Mataf previously received 50,000 people an hour and accommodated 188,000 worshippers in an area of 150,000 sq m. After the new expansion, the Mataf will receive 107,000 people an hour and will host 278,000 worshippers within an area of 210,000 sq m.

There will be four security buildings accommodating more than 18,000 personnel.

HMH goes in for the halal-friendly mid-market hotel segment

HMH - Hospitality Management Holdings (HMH), which operates a chain of halal-friendly hotels operating across the MENA region, has unveiled plans at the Arabian Travel Market to grow its halal-friendly mid-market and budget segment by 30%. 

HMH CEO Laurent Voivenel said, "The biggest growth in the halal tourism is being seen in the mid-market segment. And our strategy is to expand aggressively in this segment with a target of boosting our existing portfolio of hotels by 30% over the next five years. This will include having a hotel in every GCC country while doubling our portfolio in the UAE and KSA. We also have a strong interest in the booming Asian markets such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia and China."


Voivenel explained, "Our market intelligence shows halal-friendly hotels will continue to claim bigger market share given the business opportunity and demand. By 2030, Muslims will make up more than a quarter of the global population, rising from 1.6 billion in 2010 to 2.2 billion by 2030, and 30% of this population will seek halal options - largely in mid-market segment."

HMH is the first and 'still the only' international alcohol-free chain of hotels, Voivenel added, with all brands under HMH halal-friendly no matter where the company operates. 

"Contrary to popular belief, a dry hotel can be as lively and vibrant as any hotel. One of the greatest plus of a dry hotel is a safe and healthy environment that is perfect for families as well as single women travellers. Our hotels tend to focus on clean fun and entertainment. Creativity and passion ensure guests an exceptional experience," he noted.

Islamic banks in the UAE looking at new ways to develop

An article in The National reports that Islamic banks in the UAE, which currently have 25% market share, are among the most aggressive of all banks in seeking out new markets and customers. 

The country is overbanked, pushing banks in general to diversify and expand their reach. Islamic banks are, looking outside of the country to the Muslim populations in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco, for example, notes the article.