SCOTTISH Enterprise is expected to unveil a replacement air route development fund (ARDF) next year to support flights to “secondary” airports, including Dundee, Inverness and Prestwick.
European Union state aid rules killed off the original ARDF in 2007 but civil servants now believe they have come up with a way of providing cash to help launch routes, although the largest airports at Edinburgh and Glasgow are expected to be excluded from the measures.
The Scottish Government and other public sector bodies, such as VisitScotland, are understood to be involved in the talks.
Five LNG tankers to be built by Hyundai
Hyundai Heavy Industries yesterday unveiled orders worth a total of £650 million to build five liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers for Brunei Gas and Maran Gas.
The LNG carriers, scheduled to be delivered in 2015 and 2016, will feature the so-called dual fuel diesel engine system that allows the ships to run either on diesel fuel or natural gas, according to the company.
Since its first LNG carrier order in 1991, Hyundai has built 40 such carriers, while its Hyundai Samho Heavy subsidiary has won orders for ten LNG vessels since 2011.
Warners notches up 10,000 home sales
LAW firm Warners has sold its 10,000th property since 2000, worth a total of £1.5 billion, according to figures from the Edinburgh Solicitors’ Property Centre (ESPC).
The 10,000th property to sell was a detached villa at Eskbank, in Dalkeith. Warners has sold 3,000 more properties than any other member of the ESPC, the practice said.
Scott Brown, an estate agency partner at Warners, said: “This is a particularly monumental landmark for us as these figures do include the period since 2008 when the property market has been seen to be depressed.”
Israel stock market courts Europeans
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange will extend trading by an hour in the coming months in a bid to attract more European investors and boost trading volumes, chief executive Ester Levanon said yesterday.
Israel’s trading day starts at 9:30am – or 7:30am GMT – and currently ends at 4:30pm, some two hours before European sessions finish.
“We believe we should be part of Europe and that means trading as close as possible to European hours,” Levanon said. She proposes initially extending the day by one hour and then possibly a second hour.