This study finds that current air capacity between India and the United Arab Emirates is failing to keep pace with rising travel demand, potentially reducing the economic benefits that stronger air connectivity can support.
Under existing capacity levels, up to 27% of forecast India–UAE passenger demand could go unserved by 2035. This would represent a cumulative shortfall of about 54.5 million journeys, including 13.2 million on the Abu Dhabi–India corridor alone.
The report highlights strong structural growth in India’s aviation market. Their travelling class has grown from 24% of the population in 2010 to 40% in 2024, or nearly 300 million people. As a result, air travel demand is expected to grow by 7.2% per year through 2035, adding nearly 22 million passenger journeys annually.
India–UAE air travel demand is growing rapidly, underpinned by rising incomes, expanding international trade, and increasing outbound and inbound tourism. – Matthew Dass, Director of Consulting
The study also quantifies the economic impact of the UAE–India air corridor. With current capacity constraints, GDP contributions is expected to grow at a 3% CAGR over the next five years; easing constraints could lift growth to 5.5%–7%. Doubling Abu Dhabi–India seat capacity alone could generate an additional $7.2 billion in GDP over five years and support more than 170,000 jobs per year.
Beyond immediate impacts, improved connectivity could contribute to productivity gains of up to $9 billion annually by 2035, support trade and investment, and put downward pressure on fares through increased capacity and competition.
*The study was commissioned by Etihad Airways and conducted by Tourism Economics.
Infleqtion is collaborating with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on the Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder mission to fly the first standalone quantum gravity sensor in low Earth orbit, with a planned launch around 2030.
The mission will demonstrate a neutral-atom quantum sensor that measures Earth’s gravitational field and gradients from space, enabling more sensitive tracking of mass changes in water, ice, and land than current methods.
Backed by more than $20 million in mission funding, QGGPf builds on NASA’s Cold Atom Lab and GRACE heritage to reduce risk for future space-based quantum sensing systems with applications in Earth science, navigation, and national security.
PRESS RELEASE — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum sensing and quantum computing powered by neutral-atom technology, announced its role as a collaborator on NASA’s Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf) mission. Led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), the mission will fly the first quantum sensor capable of measuring the Earth’s gravitational field and its gradients; signals that are used today to monitor mass dynamics on the planet’s surface. The quantum instrument will be aboard a dedicated satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO). This program follows Infleqtion’s announcement to go public through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp X (NASDAQ: CCCX).
The QGGPf mission is designed to demonstrate quantum sensor technologies that could transform how Earth’s gravity is measured from space. The quantum sensor is designed to monitor mass dynamics across the planet’s surface, including changes in water, ice and land, while operating in microgravity, which enables longer interaction times and correspondingly improved measurement sensitivities. As a technology pathfinder, the mission will help inform the design of future science-grade instruments, representing a major step forward in U.S. leadership in space-based quantum sensing and strategic intelligence.
This project showcases what is possible when NASA and U.S. industry collaborate to push the boundaries of frontier science and technology. QGGPf builds on NASA’s long legacy of space-based gravity mapping and applies Infleqtion’s quantum engineering capabilities to enable a new class of measurement techniques designed specifically for the microgravity environment of space.
A Quantum Leap in Geospatial Precision and Strategic Sensing
With more than $20 million in contracted mission funding to date, the QGGPf mission, with contributions from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, the University of Texas at Austin, Infleqtion, Monarch Quantum, and Jemba9, will fly the first standalone quantum gravity sensor in orbit.
“Quantum sensing opens an entirely new domain for U.S. space leadership,” said Dana Anderson, Chief Science Officer at Infleqtion. “By deploying this technology in orbit, we are demonstrating the feasibility of quantum gravity sensing in space and laying the groundwork for future capabilities that can deliver unprecedented insight into our planet.”
By directly measuring subtle variations in Earth’s gravitational field, the mission aims to demonstrate technologies that will help reduce risk for future quantum gravity instruments. These future systems could enable higher-resolution insights into how underground water, ice, and natural resources shift over time, critical data for understanding planetary health, strengthening national resilience, and supporting long-term economic and security planning. The one-year mission is expected to launch in 2030.
Proven Quantum Heritage
QGGPf builds on work done by JPL and Infleqtion on the Cold Atom Lab (CAL) program aboard the International Space Station, and on NASA’s long heritage mapping Earth’s gravitational field through the GRACE mission series.
Infleqtion’s role on the QGGPf project includes the design, maturation, and integration of the quantum core of the sensor, encompassing its vacuum, laser, and control subsystems. The cold-atom system, based on ultracold rubidium atoms cooled to near absolute zero, is designed to enable direct gravity gradient measurements from space with unprecedented precision.
Accelerating Quantum-to-Space Transition
The mission further marks a significant milestone in America’s growing quantum ecosystem, showcasing how public–private relationships can accelerate the transition from fundamental research to operational capability. Beyond Earth science, quantum sensing in space will enable advances in navigation, resource management, and national security, where precision and autonomy are critical.
NASA and Infleqtion plan to complete the instrument hardware development over the next three years, followed by flight demonstration.
To learn more about how Infleqtion’s quantum technologies are enabling advances in space exploration, navigation, remote sensing, and defense, visit https://infleqtion.com/space-and-frontier/.
Kirkland & Ellis advised Axera Semiconductor Co., Ltd. (Axera, HKEX: 0600) on its global offering and listing on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited on February 10, 2026. The joint sponsors are China International Capital Corporation Hong Kong Securities Limited, Guotai Junan Capital Limited and BOCOM International (Asia) Limited.
Axera successfully raised approximately HK$2.96 billion, prior to the exercise of the over-allotment option. The offering also attracted significant interest from a prestigious group of 16 cornerstone and industrial investors, including OmniVision, Youngor, Desay SV, Joyson Electronics, NGS Super, etc.
Axera is a provider of AI inference SoCs, delivering cutting-edge perception and computing platforms for edge and endpoint AI applications. According to CIC, Axera ranked as the first in the mid-to-high-end visual on-device AI inference chips and fifth largest provider of visual on-device AI inference chips globally, and the third largest provider in China in the realm of edge AI inference in terms of shipment volume in 2024.
The Kirkland team included capital markets lawyers Mengyu Lu, George Zheng, Justin Zhou, Yuchen Han, Jiawei Zhao, Luna Wang and Patty Zhu.
Pamela McDonald of Pinsent Masons was commenting after Qatar’s cabinet published its Decision of the Council of Ministers on Regulating Procedures for Filing Lawsuits Related to Government Entities, which requires public authorities in Qatar to take active steps to settle disputes before formally requesting to initiate a lawsuit.
The decision, published on 2 February in the Official Gazette, states that any “government entity must, before requesting to initiate a Lawsuit, take initiatives for reconciliation and settlement”. The decision defines a “lawsuit” as “a dispute or claim brought by or against the government entity”.
The law imposes a statutory obligation on all government entities and public bodies to make and document settlement efforts prior to escalation. They will be required to provide all necessary documents, records, information or data in order to obtain approval from the Department of State Affairs at the Ministry of Justice to initiate the lawsuit.
Where settlement is achieved, the ministerial department will ensure parties fulfil their obligations in accordance with the agreed terms.
The law also states that, if settlement efforts are unsuccessful, the public authority must refer the request to initiate the lawsuit and also provide documents and records, including an explanation for why reconciliation and settlement was not possible.
Article 3 of the decision sets out that, after obtaining the relevant approval, the minister, head of the relevant government body or authority may initiate settlement efforts at any stage of a claim process.
There are two limitations on permission for lawsuits outlined in article 5. These state that permission will not be given if the value of the claim does not exceed QAR 50,000, or if there is insufficient documentation and evidence necessary to support the lawsuit.
McDonald, a specialist in international arbitration, said the new law was a “helpful development” in Qatar’s dispute resolution landscape and “will be attractive to prospective and current foreign investors in Qatar’s economy.”
The law is particularly crucial because government entities in Qatar often play an important role in initiating a lawsuit even where they are the defendant or respondent party. This is a result of article 2.2 of Qatar’s Arbitration Law of 2017, which requires arbitration agreements in contracts with a public entity to be approved by the prime minister to be deemed valid.
This can result in the authority requesting the prime minister’s office for approval to arbitrate claims being advanced against it. Read in this context, McDonald says the decision’s reference to the government entity “requesting to initiate a Lawsuit” can refer to claims that a public authority wishes either to prosecute or defend.
She also said the decision is yet another demonstration of Qatar’s ongoing commitment to supporting alternative dispute resolution methods since the introduction of a dedicated mediation law in November 2021. “Helpfully, article 4 of the decision references both general reconciliation efforts as well as the use of mediation,” she added. “This further underlines Qatar’s emphasis on the importance of mediation as an alternative dispute resolution method.”
The TikTok logo is displayed through a magnifying glass in this photo illustration in Ontario, Canada, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by Thomas Fuller/NurPhoto via AP)
As TikTok finalized a sale to United States investors in January, the platform was penalized in Vietnam, where authorities fined it 880 million dong ($33,800) for misleading users about data practices.
Both countries had threatened to ban TikTok over user safety. But while the US forced the company to divest its American operations over fears of Chinese political influence, Vietnam has taken a different route, using law enforcement and interagency pressure to push the platform to censor content it deems toxic.
Vietnam’s Competition Commission fined TikTok following an inspection of its compliance with consumer protection laws. The agency found that the platform had failed to establish a mechanism for users to consent to how their personal data is used, included prohibited clauses in its standard terms and conditions, misled users about the nature of their transactions with business entities, and failed to provide a complaints and redress mechanism for vulnerable groups. TikTok said it has begun making adjustments to comply with the regulator’s recommendations.
“At a high level, I think both the US and Vietnam appear to be pursuing a similar goal: preventing sensitive user data from being controlled by service providers outside the country,” said Diyi Liu, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Tracking and Society at the University of Copenhagen. But that goal alone, as recent privacy incidents have made clear, does not translate to ‘stronger privacy protections for users, and under certain conditions may even undermine them,” Liu added.
US-based TikTok users confronted this reality when the app required them to consent to more granular data collection, including geolocation, or lose access. The move prompted calls to delete TikTok in protest and pushed some users toward alternative platforms independent of Big Tech, such as Upscroll. “Restructuring TikTok may reduce foreign-control risk, but it doesn’t change the platform’s incentives to collect more data,” Ronni K. Gothard Christiansen, Technical Privacy Engineer and CEO at consent management platform AesirX.io, told Tech Policy Press. “Divestment is a sovereignty remedy, not a privacy remedy.”
In Vietnam, the timing of the TikTok fine coincided with another 810 million dong ($31,300) fine imposed on VNG, which owns Zalo, the country’s most popular messaging app. The move followed public backlash over Zalo’s ‘take it or leave it ’update to its terms of use last December.
Users were given an ultimatum: accept all terms governing how their data is collected, stored, and shared, or face account deletion within 45 days. The backlash drove a surge in downloads of WhatsApp and Viber as users explored alternatives, some going as far as boycotting Zalo, despite its central role in daily life in Vietnam, from personal communication and shopping to business dealings and government announcements.
“Vietnam fining TikTok and Zalo on the same day is a clear signal about governability: the state is enforcing consumer choice and transparency around commercial use of personal data,” Christiansen said. “The fines are modest, but the precedent is clear — platform consent can’t just be a checkbox or a take-it-or-leave-it condition.”
It was also a symbolic move that has had a calming effect on the public, Nguyen Quang Dong, director of Hanoi-based Institute for Policy Studies and Media Development, told Tech Policy Press.
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Vietnam’s Personal Data Protection Law only came into effect in January this year, so it could not be used as the basis for fining Zalo. Instead, it was the Competition Commission, an antitrust government body, that fined the tech platforms, under the guise of protecting consumer rights.
“In the area of handling locally unlawful and harmful content, Vietnamese authorities have, over several years, demonstrated a strong capacity to discipline platforms operating in a large domestic market through coordinated, top-down inspections and enforcement actions,” said Liu.
Unlike the US, Vietnam does not have the political or economic leverage to compel a TikTok sale. Neither does it have the scale and resources like China to build its own social media platform, as multiple failed attempts have shown. What the country does have is leverage in terms of market access — a rapidly growing economy of 100 million people — that it has proven over the years to be enough to compel foreign platforms to comply with its demands.
Back in 2023, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information and Communications launched a probe into TikTok over content it deemed “to pose a threat to the country’s youth, culture and tradition,” warning that non-compliance could result in cutting the platform off advertisers, banks and e-commerce revenue, or even a blanket ban. The authorities later concluded that TikTok had failed to protect children’s privacy and had allowed “illegal content” to spread. This includes content that opposes the state, insults national symbols, incites violence, or spreads false information that causes public disorder, as per Vietnam’s cybersecurity law. TikTok signed an admission of wrongdoing and pledged corrective action, state media reported.
Not just TikTok, but also Facebook and YouTube, have consistently complied with over 90% of Vietnamese government takedown requests.
Before 2020, enforcement of user privacy mostly took a back seat compared to online censorship in Vietnam. The government’s focus on user privacy since then, Dong said, reflects not just the country playing catch-up toward more comprehensive governance of online platforms, but also rising public pressure, driven by data leaks and online scams, courtesy of scam compounds in neighboring Cambodia.
The Vietnamese government’s success in using state power and market leverage to compel foreign platforms to censor unlawful content now serves as a blueprint for pressuring companies to take user privacy and consent more seriously — reinforcing the one-party state’s control over online speech.
The US approach, by contrast, has focused on restructuring ownership rather than shaping platform behavior. The transfer of control over TikTok’s US operations to domestic firms has heightened privacy concerns by shifting “who controls and can compel access to the data, and under what safeguards,” Christiansen said, without fundamentally altering the platform’s data-collection incentives.
Beyond privacy, the sale has raised new national security questions. TikTok US is now jointly controlled by private equity firm Silver Lake, software giant Oracle, and Emirati investment firm MGX, each holding a 15% stake. Critics have pointed out that it merely transfers control to US corporations politically aligned with the current administration in a system where the likes of Meta, Google and Amazon have used surveillance and algorithms to “influence what we think, do, and consume,” Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, a DC-based NGO, argued.
US TikTok users are already accusing the platform of increased censorship of pro-Palestinian content. Days after the sale, Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, who had 1.4 million followers on TikTok, said her account had been banned.
“National security isn’t only about where data sits or who owns the shares — it’s also about the recommendation system,” Christiansen said. “When a platform can shape attention and belief at scale, algorithm governance becomes a security and fundamental-rights issue alongside data governance.”
Orange Business and Cisco have launched post-quantum cryptography (PQC)–secured network services on Orange’s global infrastructure to protect enterprise and public-sector data from future quantum threats.
Orange Business is the first European service provider to offer PQC-secured global WAN services using Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers, with managed Cisco SD-WAN PQC services planned for commercial availability in Q3 2026.
The collaboration focuses on crypto-agile, centrally managed SD-WAN architectures designed to mitigate “harvest now, decrypt later” risks as quantum computing advances.
PRESS RELEASE — Orange Business and Cisco are announcing today their collaboration on Post-Quantum Cryptography- (PQC) secured solutions over the Orange Business global network infrastructure. This provides customers, from enterprises to public sector, with long-term protection against future quantum attacks for their network traffic.
Orange Business is the first European service provider to announce PQC-secured global network services based on Cisco 8000 Series Secure Routers. These are specifically designed for the quantum era, providing robust, quantum-safe network connectivity.
As of today, PQC-secured WAN services are available. PQC-secured Orange Business managed Cisco SD-WAN services are targeted for commercial availability in CY Q3 2026. Customers can trust that sensitive data moving across organizations, the cloud, and data centers remains secure, even against the threat of quantum computing.
As quantum computing advances, many widely used classical cryptographic algorithms will become increasingly vulnerable. This creates the risk that data intercepted today could be decrypted in the future, known as the “Harvest now, Decrypt Later” threat. Customers need to act now to avoid such exposure. PQC integrated into Cisco SD-WAN infrastructures is easy for customers to implement as a software feature – particularly as a managed service. It will help customers protect their data and operations against both current and future threats.
PQC integrated into SD-WAN makes the SD-WAN infrastructure and its control and data planes quantum-safe, ensuring the way sites connect, authenticate, and exchange keys to remain secure. The benefit of PQC integrating into SD-WAN is that it future-proofs the entire WAN, not just individual tunnels. This gives customers a single, centrally managed, quantum-resilient WAN that can evolve as standards change.
The Latest Building Block in the Orange Quantum Defender Portfolio
PQC over Cisco SD-WAN is the latest addition in the Orange Quantum Defender range of solutions, reinforcing Orange’s leadership in quantum-safe networking. Orange is focused on preparing enterprise and critical infrastructure customers for the future impact of quantum computing by embedding post-quantum security into network security early, rather than viewing it as an upgrade later on.
The Orange quantum-safe networking strategy emphasizes crypto-agility, ensuring that networks are designed to allow for the quick alteration or upgrade of cryptographic algorithms and protocols, thereby minimizing disruption and maintaining confidentiality over long data lifecycles.
A Step-By-Step Approach
By taking a standards-aligned approach to quantum-safe networking with PQC over SD-WAN, Orange and Cisco are helping customers protect their operations and maintain customer trust in the future. The goal is to ensure that data communications and digital services remain secure, even as quantum security threats evolve, without requiring customers to undergo sudden, disruptive changes.
Jean-Noël Michel Vice President, Communication Services Business Line at Orange Business
Jean-Noël is responsible for the product portfolio and engineering of connectivity, communication, collaboration, contact centers and professional services. He has more than 25 years of experience in the telecom industry. Prior to joining Orange Business, he was responsible for product innovation for B2B markets across Orange Group and has led leadership roles at Orange in service platforms, IT, B2B, marketing and business development.
Vikas Butaney SVP and General Manager, Secure Routing and Industrial IoT at Cisco
Vikas leads product strategy, roadmap, and development for Cisco Routing and SD-WAN, Industrial Networking, Industrial Cyber Security, and Multicloud Networking. As networking and security become more tightly integrated, Vikas has led the implementation of an SD-WAN offering with comprehensive security built-in. Bringing all these technologies together with the Cisco Networking Cloud vision, Vikas is helping customers simplify, secure, and scale their businesses.
London, 10 February 2026 – GP Bullhound is pleased to announce six senior promotions across the firm and extends its warmest congratulations to our newly promoted colleagues. These promotions reflect the depth of our senior leadership team and the long-term commitment our people bring to clients globally.
We are also delighted to welcome Greg Stucker as Director, San Francisco, further reinforcing our senior dealmaking capability and global platform.
Ale Casartelli – promoted to Partner Ale joined GP Bullhound in 2011 as an Analyst and has grown into a trusted senior advisor across Business Software and Consumer Technology. With more than a decade of investment banking experience, he has led 30+ M&A and capital raising transactions for some of the most prominent global internet, software, and media businesses, including Spotify, Avito, Believe Digital, Jellyfish, Baltics Classified Group, and MiQ.
Prior to GP Bullhound, Alessandro worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in London. He holds an MSc in Corporate Finance from ESADE Business School and a degree in Economics and Management from Bocconi University.
Simon Miremadi – promoted to Partner Simon joined GP Bullhound in 2015 as an Analyst and has played a key role in building and deepening client relationships across Europe and the US, including time in our Berlin and San Francisco offices. Over his ten-year tenure at GP Bullhound, he has advised a range of high-profile clients including Urban Sports Club, Eversports, Motif, Signavio, 7NXT, Flightright, and Uberall.
Prior to GP Bullhound, Simon gained experience at MCF Corporate Finance, Woodside Capital Partners, and Deutsche Bank. He holds an MBA from California State University and a BSc in International Business from ESB Business School in Reutlingen.
Jaime Sendagorta – promoted to Managing Director
Jaime joined GP Bullhound in 2017 as an Associate and has developed into a senior leader across our Consumer Technology and Business Software practices. With 10+ years of experience in the technology industry, he has led numerous successful M&A and fundraising transactions, supporting founders and management teams through complex, high-stakes outcomes.
Prior to GP Bullhound, Jaime began his investment banking career at Credit Suisse in London (EMEA TMT). He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Law and Business Administration & Management from ICADE, Madrid, and completed two study exchange placements, first at the University of San Diego and then at Sophia University in Tokyo.
Pierce Lewis-Oakes – promoted to Managing Director
Pierce began his GP Bullhound journey as an Intern in 2015, marking the start of a decade-plus career at the firm and a track record of consistently delivering for clients. He has closed 20+ transactions representing over US$3 billion of enterprise value and advises across consumer and enterprise software. Notable transactions include Flo Health’s US$230 million investment from General Atlantic, Falcon’s sale to Cision, and FATMAP’s sale to Strava.
Pierce holds a BA in Political Science from The George Washington University, where he was awarded a Presidential Academic Scholarship.
Gerry Kelliher – promoted to Director
Gerry joined GP Bullhound in 2021 and brings experience across investment banking and private equity. He started his career at Citi and most recently worked at Alliant Partners, a specialist technology investment bank, and Pantheon Ventures, a fund-of-funds focused on infrastructure and real assets. Gerry holds a BA in Finance and Economics from the University of Notre Dame.
Nansi Nistorova – promoted to Director
Nansi has extensive experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, growth capital raises, and restructurings. Since 2018, she has completed a double-digit number of technology transactions, supporting a diverse client base, from fast-growing VC/PE-backed companies and founder-led businesses to multinational companies.
Prior to joining GP Bullhound, Nansi worked in the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) teams at STOUT and Stifel Europe (formerly ACXIT Capital Partners), advising clients across a wide range of strategic and financial transactions.
These promotions underscore our dedication to excellence and our strategic vision for the future. Congratulations to all our newly promoted team members.
