SHARJAH, 27 March 2008 — Air Arabia, announced yesterday the purchase of two Airbus A320 aircraft, expanding the company’s fleet size to 13, including 11 leased and two wholly owned aircraft. The purchase is not part of Air Arabia’s announced purchase of up to 49 Airbus A320s announced in November 2007 at the Dubai Air Show.”We have undertaken this fleet expansion in order for us to provide our passengers even greater access to our growing destination network and competitive low-cost fares,” said Adel Ali, board member and chief executive officer of Air Arabia.

Al-Salam Bank Makes DFM Debut

Arab News

DUBAI — Dubai Financial Market (DFM) announced yesterday the listing of Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain’s shares. With this listing, the number of companies listed on DFM reaches 57 public joint stock companies. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, chairman of the board of directors of Al-Salam Bank-Bahrain, opened trading of the bank’s shares in a ceremony attended by Essa Kazim, chairman of the board of directors of DFM.

Google Co-Founders Take $1 Salary

Jordan Robertson, Associated Press

SAN JOSE, California — Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page each took home their customary $1 annual salary again in 2007, while a steep decline in the company’s stock price chopped more than $8.5 billion (5.5 billion euros) from each of their massive holdings of Google shares, according to a regulatory filing Tuesday. CEO Eric Schmidt also received his customary $1 salary in 2007, the Mountain View-based company said in its proxy statement filed Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Global Expects to Raise $1 Billion

Reuters

KUWAIT — Kuwaiti investment bank Global Investment House is expecting to raise 279.8 million dinars ($1.05 billion) by increasing its capital by 35 percent, its managing director said yesterday. Global will sell shares for 930 fils each, Maha Ghunaim told Reuters on the sidelines of an annual shareholder meeting. Global would use the funds to pursue its expansion in the Middle East, Ghunaim said.

DAE Sells Unit to US Firm for $435m

Reuters

DUBAI — State-owned Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) said yesterday it had agreed to sell Landmark Aviation’s fixed-base operations business to US private equity firm GTCR for $435 million. DAE bought plane-servicing firms Standard Aero Holdings Inc and Piedmont/Hawthorne Holdings Inc, which does business under the name Landmark Aviation, for $1.8 billion in April 2007.

Ithmaar to List Shares on KSE

Reuters

DUBAI — Bahraini Islamic investment bank Ithmaar Bank said on Tuesday it planned to list shares on the Kuwait bourse on March 31 to tap liquidity in the world’s seventh-largest oil exporter. “Ithmaar Bank’s listing on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) will help diversify our shareholder base,” the lender said in a statement.