News
Emirates Is Preparing To Build A $135 Million Pilot-Training Facility
The new center will have six full-flight simulator bays for the airline’s future Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X aircraft.
After the pandemic caused a global tourism slump, the travel sector is now well on the road to recovery. Strong demand for air travel means that key industry players are scrambling to hire fresh cabin staff and pilots. To tackle the problem, Emirates has just announced that it intends to build a new training facility, which will span 5,882 square meters and open in March 2024.
The new high-tech center will be equipped with six flight simulator bays and fully-customizable cockpit environments for the new Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X aircraft, also arriving in 2024.
Also Read: Saudi Arabia To Transform Downtown Riyadh By 2030
“The building will be equipped with the latest, technologically advanced simulators to provide the best training for pilots while using solar power to reduce energy consumption,” says Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and CEO of Emirates Airline and Group.
According to Emirates, flight training capacity will be increased by 54% annually with the addition of the new center, and the airline plans to hire 400 pilots and up to 6,000 cabin crew by mid-2023.
News
LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE
Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.
Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.
The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.
Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.
An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.
Also Read: Logitech’s New Folding Mouse Is Designed For Work On The Go
“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.
The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.
