Emirates snubs aviation sector’s rising war-risk ins.

Watch this space

#1- Emirates’ biggest edge over its non-Gulf peers may be the price of staying insured. Dubai’s flag carrier has secured war-risk cover for about USD 100k a week for its entire fleet flying to and from Dubai. Airlines based in the Gulf are generally getting more flexible rates than foreign rivals with aircraft based elsewhere, aided by operating hundreds of daily flights through regional airspace and by closer coordination with airports and local authorities. Non-Gulf airlines, meanwhile, have been quoted USD 70k-150k per flight into the region.

Non-Gulf carriers are being priced on a flight-by-flight basis, with each rotation into the region carrying its own war-risk premium. Emirates operates under a large, fleet-wide ins. structure, allowing insurers to assess risks across its network rather than on a per-flight basis — giving it a more stable and significantly lower cost base.

#2- Fitch Ratings signaled it may downgrade Qatar after placing the country’s AA rating on “rating watch negative,” pointing to mounting risks amid the Iran war.

The assessment: A more fragile security backdrop and reduced LNG returns could push Doha to step up defence and infrastructure protection spending. The country is already highly dependent on Hormuz than many of its GCC peers, making it more exposed to higher transport and insurance costs, delays, and supply chain disruptions — all of which could chip away at fiscal and external surpluses.

Qatar does have room to manoeuver — government debt is relatively contained at around 40–45% of GDP and sovereign wealth buffers remain sizable, but the cushion isn’t infinite.

#3- Tanger Med, the Moroccan industrial port complex, is positioning itself to capture business as the war in the Gulf grinds on. The port is preparing for higher vessel traffic as carriers reroute around the Cape of Good Hope — with Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, and CMA CGM already shifting routes.

Tanger Med’s management expects the real impact on cargo flows to show up only by mid-to-late April, with Cape diversions adding roughly 10-14 days to transit times into the Moroccan hub. The port handled 11.1 mn containers in 2025, up 8.4% y-o-y, reinforcing its position ahead of competing Mediterranean hubs, with route connections to roughly 180 ports globally.

Data point

Net inflows of FDI in Saudi Arabia rose 90% y-o-y in 4Q 2025 to SAR 48.4 bn, bringing the full-year total to SAR 122.4 bn. The final quarter of the year accounted for nearly 40% of total annual inflows, rising 82% from the previous quarter.

The full-year figure is a little under a third of Saudi Arabia’s target of USD 100 bn in annual FDI inflows, which it hopes to achieve by the end of the decade. The kingdom introduced a series of reforms to attract FDI over the last year, including opening property ownership to foreigners, capital market liberalization, and a privatization strategy.