
Abu Dhabi: IndiGo passengers can now check in at city terminals
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)Few residents are aware that they can check in their baggage and collect boarding passes a day before travel at several city terminals in Abu Dhabi, allowing them to head to Zayed International Airport luggage-free. This also means they can comfortably use public transport without being burdened by bags.Morafiq Aviation Services offers the facility at four locations across the emirate. The Mina Cruise Terminal operates around the clock, while the Yas Mall terminal—located at the Ferrari World entrance—is open from 10am to 10pm. The Mussafah Shabia 11 terminal also operates from 10am to 10pm, as does the LuLu Hypermarket terminal in Kuwaitat, Al Ain.Currently, the service is available to passengers flying with Etihad Airways, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, IndiGo and EgyptAir. Check-in and boarding pass charges are Dh35 for adults, Dh25 for children and Dh15 for infants, a Morafiq spokesperson told Aletihad.Passengers can check in at the three Abu Dhabi terminals from 24 hours up to 4 hours before departure, while at the Al Ain terminal, check-in is available from 24 hours up to 7 hours before departure, the spokesman said. There are ample parking facilities at all the checkin terminals, he added. IndiGo, India's largest airline, is the latest addition to Morafiq's partner list.Marking the occasion, Titten Yohannan, Chairman of Morafiq Aviation Services LLC and OACIS Middle East, said: 'We are delighted to welcome IndiGo to our growing portfolio of partner carriers. In our continuous endeavour to make air travel seamless and convenient, this partnership reflects our shared commitment to innovation, efficiency and customer satisfaction.'With the addition of IndiGo, Morafiq continues to expand its presence in the aviation services sector, offering advanced solutions that support airline partners and enhance the passenger experience.
Morafiq Aviation Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of OACIS (Off Airport Check-in Solutions), is a leading provider of off-airport and aviation-related services across the GCC and Asia-Pacific regions.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Gulf Today
8 hours ago
- Gulf Today
India, China to resume direct flights in sign of closer ties
India and China are set to resume direct flight connections as soon as next month, people familiar with the negotiations said, as the world's two most populous countries seek to reset their political ties. Airlines in India have been asked by the government to prepare flights to China at short notice, with a possible official announcement as soon as the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit at the end of August in China, said the people, asking not to be identified because the negotiations are ongoing. Passenger flights between India and China were suspended after the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing travelers from the two neighboring countries to pass through hubs like through Hong Kong or Singapore. The renewed push to rebuild a direct link comes at a time when India's relations with the US have come under considerable strain, after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil. On Monday, Air India announced it would suspend its direct link to Washington, DC, next month, citing 'operational factors' as the reason. The carrier still flies to New York and San Francisco. Diplomatic ties between the two Asian heavyweights hit a low point in 2020, when border clashes left 20 Indian fighters and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers dead. India recently allowed tourist visas for Chinese nationals after years of curbs. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the SCO summit in Tianjin starting Aug. 31, where he may meet Chinese President Xi Jinping. India's aviation ministry, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and the country's press information bureau did not respond to requests for comment. The exact timing of any flight resumption remains fluid, and talks might still hit a snag, the people cautioned. Before the suspension, Indian carriers including Air India and IndiGo, as well as Chinese airlines such as Air China, China Southern and China Eastern ran services between key cities of the two countries. A resumption is likely to see both Air India and IndiGo restarting flights to China, the people said. Air India and IndiGo did not respond to emails seeking comment. India and China had first agreed in January to resume direct flights, before relations between the two countries cooled again amid India's limited war with Pakistan. The two countries then announced a takeup of direct connections once more in June, though without any visible progress. Plans to rebuild direct links only gained pace in the past two weeks, and the airlines involved have also been informed about the proposal, the people said. The number of direct flights between the US and China has dwindled by nearly three-quarters since 2019 to a scheduled 9,726 this year, based on data from Cirium. Airlines plan to offer just more than 3 million seats on such flights in 2025, up 15% from 2024 levels. In July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Beijing and New Delhi should work towards mutual trust and "win-win" cooperation, after talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, state news agency Xinhua reported. China and India should "adhere to the direction of good-neighborliness and friendship" and "find a way for mutual respect and trust, peaceful coexistence, common development and win-win cooperation", Wang said, according to Xinhua. The two foreign ministers met in Beijing as the two rivals seek to repair ties following a 2020 clash on their border. The world's two most populous nations are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia, and their 3,500-kilometre (2,200-mile) frontier has been a perennial source of tension. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping met for the first time in five years later that month, agreeing to work on improving relations. New Delhi is concerned over Beijing's increasing presence in the Indian Ocean, seeing the region as firmly within its sphere of influence. Another source of tension is the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader India has hosted since he and thousands of other Tibetans fled Chinese troops who crushed an uprising in their capital Lhasa in 1959. The 90-year-old Dalai Lama says only his India-based organisation has the right to identify his eventual successor. China insists that it would have final say on who succeeds the Tibetan spiritual leader. Agencies


Al Etihad
14 hours ago
- Al Etihad
UAE tops again Greenfield FDI Performance Index
12 Aug 2025 15:34 A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI) The UAE was once again the world's top performer for attracting foreign direct investment relative to the size of its economy in 2024, leading the 10th edition of fDi Intelligence's Greenfield FDI Performance Index. The ranking covers 105 countries; 85 posted an index score above 1.0, meaning their share of global greenfield projects was larger than their share of global GDP, while 20 scored below 1.0. Investor confidence in the UAE 'remained strong', with a score of 14.26 indicating the country received more than fourteen times the project volume one might expect given its GDP, fDi Intelligence's report said. Although project numbers grew a modest 1.8% last year, the UAE ranked as the second-most popular FDI destination globally for inbound projects, behind the services, tech and financial services remained the leading FDI sectors, with financial services showing particularly strong project growth; transportation and warehousing, communications and consumer products also saw notable upticks. 'The UAE has many initiatives geared towards becoming a global leader in artificial intelligence,' fDi Intelligence report said. Artificial intelligence, cyber security and cloud computing continued to be key themes, underpinned by national strategies such as Artificial Intelligence 2031 and Centennial 2071. Recent announcements include Microsoft's plan for a global engineering development centre in Abu Dhabi and a 2025 move to build sovereign cloud and AI infrastructure with G42. The report has credited the achievements to the sound policy matrix of the country. 'The UAE has transformed FDI into a major opportunity for economic diversification. Its overall FDI success is also due to its pro-business environment, its relative stability in an otherwise turbulent region and its nonaligned foreign policy, which keeps the doors open to any investor from the East and West alike,' the report said. A recent Emirates NBD report said the UAE has reported 613 greenfield projects with capital inflows of $5.42 billion in the first half of 2025, setting the stage for another year of success. Beyond the UAE, several countries recorded striking improvements. Malta was the highest climber, jumping 50 places to 33rd, part of a cohort of smaller economies — among them El Salvador, Iceland, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Laos and Namibia—whose modest base magnified gains as offerings to foreign investors improved. Qatar's momentum stood out: inbound project numbers almost doubled from 2023, lifting it into the top 15 alongside Bahrain, where inbound FDI projects rose by almost 50%. Canada also surged, climbing 17 places to a record index score of 1.51 on the back of all-time-high inbound volumes. On the other side of the ledger, Uganda was the biggest decliner, dropping 43 places amid a fall in inbound projects and an 8.7% expansion in GDP that diluted its index position. Germany fell 14 spots as macroeconomic headwinds and energy-price shocks weighed on investor sentiment, pushing 2024 project counts to a 10-year low.


Time Out Abu Dhabi
a day ago
- Time Out Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways is doing discounts on flights for India Independence Day 2025
If you've been looking for a sign to book that big trip, this might be it. Etihad Airways is marking India's Independence Day with a wallet-friendly flash sale – and we're talking up to 30 percent off flights to some of the most exciting cities in the US and Europe. Where can you go? For starters, Chicago from Dhs3,273, Washington DC from Dhs3,149 and Toronto from Dhs3,599 in Economy. If you prefer a European getaway, you could be strolling Barcelona's Gothic Quarter from Dhs2,036, sipping Irish drinks in Dublin from Dhs2,149, or wandering Prague's cobbled streets without completely emptying your savings. Other cities on sale include Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Rome, Munich, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Boston, New York, Sochi and Atlanta – so if you've got a dream destination list, there's a good chance it's on there. The only catch is that you have got to move quickly. Book by Thursday August 15 for travel between September 2025 and March 2026. And yes, that means winter getaways, autumn escapes and maybe even a cheeky early spring break are all on the table. Need some travel inspo? Travelling from Abu Dhabi is about to be so much faster Zayed International Airport is the world's first airport to make this change 18 countries offering visa-on-arrival to UAE residents Here's where to go UAE citizens now get visa-on-arrival for India: a game-changer for travellers That quick trip to India just got even easier