I think he meant exactly what he said. Abu Dhabi is just the richer cousin of Dubai - and in all the years I've lived in Dubai, interestingly enough Ive NEVER see EY and EK overtly compete (I say overtly, obviously they compete but they seem to do so by ignoring each other, not fighting to take away passengers from one another by offering status, better CC offers, etc as we see UA/DL/AA do every day

Whatever happens, entry of A 380 will stiffen competiton for pax. Good for pricing and service level improvements.

I see the suitcases full of Dirhams has finally arrived at the Rajpath!

^

maybe one of the last opportunities ?

I think you meant Akbar Road

More likely CHF in Zurich or some USD in the Caymans.

One correction in the article -

"Despite a short-sighted transit immigrant visa requirement and ridiculous air passenger fees, Heathrow is a major transit point for passengers between India and North America."

That is precisely because while India is on the list of countries that require a DATV (direct airside transit visa), there is an exception in place - that you don't need a DATV if you have a valid visitor visa to the USA / Canada / Australia / NZ, and you are transiting LHR en route to those four countries. The same exception applies if you have a Schengen long term residence D visa.

What is noticeably missing is an exception that says "Schengen C visa" - a short stay tourist or business visa. Which means any trip to the Schengen region via the UK requires a British DATV. Which costs UKP 50 (soon to become UKP 40 I think) and an incredibly detailed visa application form, with all the usual extra documentation demanded .. tax returns, salary statements etc etc.

Which means - don't ever fly BA from India if you want to go to say Brussels or Paris or whatever. Fly QR and earn a fraction of the tier points / miles on your BA executive club unless you buy near full fare economy tickets. Or just fly LH / AF and use your schengen visa to enter Europe in Germany or Paris before you transit onwards.

One additional exception is Ireland, which has a complicated process where if you get a UK short stay visa, stay a day or so in the UK and then go on to Ireland, you don't need an Irish visa .. just the UK short stay visa. Note - if you simply transit through LHR airside and fly into Dublin with just that UK visa .. that won't work. The irish immigration looks to see entry / exit stamps on that british visa before they let you in on this exception. http://www.irelandinindia.com/home/index.aspx?id=86830