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Dubai World Central’s (DWC) Al Maktoum International airport, the centerpiece of the ‘aerotroplis’ free zone cluster, will be unveiled at Dubai Airshow on 17 November, following a soft opening from 27 October, when budget airlines Nasair and Wizz Air begin commercial passenger flights to Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe. Operational for cargo flights since June 2010, DWC airport will not reach full capacity until at least 2017.

Qatar has set up a $1bn fund to invest in energy infrastructure assets overseas. On 20 May, sovereign wealth fund Qatar Holding (QH), state-owned Qatar Petroleum International (QPI), and Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) – 43% of which is owned by the government – signed a shareholders’ agreement to establish Nebras Power. QEWC will own 60%, with the other two stakeholders each taking 20%.

Qatar Petroleum (QP) and ExxonMobil have agreed to invest around $10bn to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Texas, where an affiliated import facility has been sitting idle, and plan to send up to 15.6m tons of LNG to Britain.In a statement on 9 May, Golden Pass Products LLC – which is headquartered in Houston and was formed by affiliates of QP and Exxon – said the two companies had signed a commercial framework agreement for the proposed liquefaction projects at the Golden Pass LNG terminal in Sabine Pass, Texas.

France’s Alstom has won a E750m ($976m) contract to supply equipment for the Yanbu 3 power and desalination plant on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast. The plant, which will run on heavy fuel oil (HFO), is due to enter commercial operation in 2016. It will produce 3,100MW, and supply sweet water and feed the grid in the western part of the country, which includes Jeddah, Yanbu, Medina and Mecca.

AK ruler Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al-Qasimi issued a decree on 14 March stating that the new Ras Al-Khaimah Electricity and Water Authority (Rakewa) is to have financial, administrative and legal autonomy. Water and power infrastructure in the northern emirates is lagging way behind, causing problems for property developers and putting off investors.

Rotterdam-based OMA has been appointed masterplanner for Airport City, a 10km2 development linking the new Hamad International Airport (HIA) with Doha. OMA, which describes itself as a partnership practising architecture, urbanism and cultural analysis, won an international competition with its plan for four circular districts – the business district, the aviation campus, the logistics district and the residential district – along a spine parallel to the HIA runways.

In another sign that the new parliament is keener than its predecessors to get down to business, Kuwaiti MPs have passed a draft law on Kuwait Airways that will finally allow the beleaguered airline’s long-awaited privatisation to move forwards. Plans for privatisation were approved in 2008, but repeatedly delayed by Kuwait’s strangulated political environment. The cabinet had another go in April 2012, but that got put on the back burner during yet another season of parliamentary dissolution and elections

On 1 January, Oman’s transport ministry announced it had awarded an OR41.8m ($108.6m) two-year contract to oversee the expansion of Muscat International and Salalah airports to US firm Hill International – removing Danish consultants COWI from a project it had supervised since 2008.

Kuwait has given final approval to a settlement with Iraq over Gulf war-era debts. Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah signed decree number 23 for 2012, endorsing the agreement reached by the two sides earlier this year to settle the dispute between Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) and Iraqi Airways.

Bahrain’s troubled Bank Alkhair has appointed Khalil Nooruddin as managing director and chief executive, the bank said in a statement on 18 September.

Canadian rail manufacturer Bombardier Transportation has signed a €281m ($361m) contract with Spain’s Talgo to develop and supply components for 36 high-speed trains for the Haramain rail project.

Qatar Airways announced a small net loss in the year to April 2012, on the back of high oil prices. The ambitious and fast-growing carrier is not listed on a stock market, and does not regularly disclose its results.

Oman Air’s maiden flight to Iran landed in Tehran on 1 September. The daily service from Muscat will operate on Embraer E175 regional jets, which have 71 seats, including 11 in business class.

The contract for Oman’s much-delayed National Rail Project has been pushed back again to 5 October, according to news reports.

Embattled national airline Kuwait Airways has had to ground several aircraft because of safety concerns, and is facing a law suit demanding suspension of all flights. Lawyer Hawra Al-Habeeb filed a suit the day after the government grounded several aircraft because of repeated malfunctions.