DUBAI: Aviation officials investigating the 2016 crash landing of an Emirates airline aircraft said there were no mechanical problems leading to the accident.
“A large number of aircraft systems were tested with the assistance of the manufacturers and analysis of the data downloaded indicates that there were no aircraft systems or engine abnormalities up to the time of the accident,” the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) said on Sunday.
The Emirates airplane, a Boeing 777-300, coming from Thiruvananthapuram, India, “impacted the runway during an attempted go-around at Dubai International Airport” and suffered “structural damages as a result of the impact and its movement along the runway and was eventually destroyed by fire,” the interim investigation report said.
Twenty-one passengers, one flight crew member, and four cabin crew members sustained minor injuries while four cabin crew members sustained serious injuries.
Approximately nine minutes after Flight EK521 came to rest, a firefighter was fatally injured when the center wing fuel tank exploded.
The GCAA also said that investigators were working “to determine and analyze the human performance factors that influenced flight crew actions during the landing and attempted go-around.”
“In addition, the investigation has reviewed and has identified safety enhancements related to the validity of weather information that was passed to the flight crew, and communication between air traffic control and the flight crew, GCAA said.
No mechanical problems before 2016 Emirates airline crash landing, GCAA says
No mechanical problems before 2016 Emirates airline crash landing, GCAA says
Saudis account for 70% of Lucid’s workforce in Saudi Arabia, official says
DAMMAM: Saudis make up 70 percent of Lucid Motors’ workforce in Riyadh and King Abdullah Economic City, Faisal Sultan, the company’s Middle East president, told Al-Eqtisadiah.
Sultan explained that the company runs an annual program to develop local talent, sending Saudi employees to the US to gain advanced manufacturing skills and expertise before returning to apply and transfer that knowledge in Saudi Arabia, strengthening local capabilities and industrial value chains.
He further said that the Saudization rate is expected to rise in the coming years, alongside the planned expansion of production at the AMP-2 plant, which will create thousands of new job opportunities, adding that the company anticipates hiring an increasing number of Saudis as production ramps up.
Sultan highlighted Lucid’s leadership in advanced manufacturing in Saudi Arabia, noting that the company has established a strong industrial presence through its AMP-2 plant at the King Salman Automotive Cluster in King Abdullah Economic City.
Spanning 1.3 million sq. meters, the facility is a central pillar of the company’s plans to boost production capacity and expand local industrial operations.
Last week, Lucid CEO Marc Winterhoff told Al-Eqtisadiah that the company attracted new institutional investors over the past six months, including a $300 million investment from Uber, adding that talks are ongoing with other investment institutions and players for additional funding in the near future.
He highlighted that the company is working to double production capacity, noting that Lucid doubled its output in the US this year, with further increases planned for next year.
The new Saudi plant, Winterhoff added, is expected to begin operations by the end of next year and continue into 2026, forming a key part of Lucid’s expansion plans for 2027 with the launch of its new mid-size platform, emphasizing that this will result in a significant jump in production compared with current levels.
Regarding competition in the EV market, the CEO said Lucid is not targeting the low-price segment locally or globally and will maintain its position in the premium category.
He added that the new platform will deliver a mid-size vehicle priced at $50,000, describing it as a broadly accessible segment. However, he stressed that the company will not compete with low-priced Chinese imports, given the level of support those vehicles receive.
Winterhoff previously projected that Saudi Arabia’s EV market will grow at an annual rate of six percent through 2030, reaching sales of between 210,000 and 250,000 vehicles per year.
