Emirates Airlines

Zayed University

BUS310-502

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Table of contents Pages

Executive Summary ……………………………………………………………. 4

Introduction …………………………………………………………….... 4

Environmental Context Analysis ………………………………………………… 5-6

Competitor Analysis ……………………………………………………………... 7-8

SWOT Analysis …………………………………………………………………. 8-9

Segmentation and Targeting……………………………………………………… 9

Positioning Strategy …………………………………………………………….. 10

Product Strategy ……………………………………………………………….. 10-11

Pricing strategy ……………………………………………………………….. 11

Distribution strategy ……………………………………………………………. 11-12

Promotion strategy ………………………………………………………………. 12-13

Customer service and relationship activities ……………………………………. 13

Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………… 13

Recommendations ……………………………………………………………… 14

Appendices ……………………………………………………………………… 15

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List of Tables and/or List of Figures:

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities ThreatsDubai government support

High competition Continuously purchasing newest fleet available

Competitors within the region following the same model

High employee satisfaction

High cost to maintain brand image

Increase number of destinations grows market share

Change in governmental policies

Wide area of business activity (72 countries)

Dependent on international moving traffic

High customer loyalty Not catering for budget travelers

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Executive Summary:

Emirates Airlines is an organization in the UAE that is owned by the government of

Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It provides services of flight and in-flight

entertainment systems which also include economy, business, and first classes. Emirates airlines

furthermore consist of ground services such as providing separate lounges for first and business

class as well as a complementary chauffeur-drive from and to the airport. Emirates functions

across six continents with nearly 3,400 airlifts a week.

Emirates airlines offer a service that is in demand by many consumers and especially in

Arab countries for their frequent travels around the world, mostly Europe, during vacations short

or long. Due to this huge demand of travel service Emirates have gained an advantage by

providing many irresistible amenities. They try their best to perfect their company and image to

win against some threatening competitor such as Gulf Air Company and many others. This

airline has a lot of advantages because of image and good service but it has some disadvantages

as well.

Emirates targets mainly middle class and business class people and tend to somehow

overlook the lower class because of the high price they pay for development and advertising. It

has grown rapidly throughout the years and is still improving by providing offers for the

customers and settling on fair prices. They also listen to their customers complaints and try their

best to fix it.

Introduction:

Emirates is an airline started in Dubai located in the United Arab Emirates. Emirates

Airlines expects to clasp the interest and prioritizes business class customers and the upper

middle class. The company plans to build a strong market position in the world. Emirates airlines

aims to offer its service at a good price to meet the demands of upper middle class and the

middle class due to their astonishingly favorable service and safety and their willingness to listen

and fix their customer’s complaints.

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Environmental Context Analysis

Demographic Environment:

The need of airline industry is growing rapid as the world has become a global village.

The number of immigrants, business traveling, and tourism is expanding in the Asia pacific

region. Therefore, all the airline service providers’ including Emirates are in a constant struggle

to fulfil the growing needs. Emirates have customized its services to its customers according the

age, gender, religion, and other demographic features.

Economic Environment:

The aviation industry worldwide suffered a lot during the major economic down fall,

resulting in liquidations of numerous airline firms, reduction in airline travel networks and levels

of service and IATA gave a approximated net losses 9.4 billion US dollars in the year

2009. Globally, the Aviation industry stared severe price-cutting and downsizing. But the

Emirates due to its well-established strong network agreements over international destinations

were not only able to survive but also optimized it operations. The Emirates now have increase

its capacity while still able to keep its fixed costs at a similar when compared with other

competitor. An emirate is able to access the international markets with bigger geographical

coverage.

Socio-cultural Environment:

Socio-cultural factors can also effect on strategies of development. It was real challenge

for Emirate because both global and domestic markets where Emirates function have large

cultural multiplicity. Since the countries like U.K Australia, Canada, America and Dubai, are

multi-cultural so the customers possess different moral values, education, attitudes, and religion.

Because of this diversity, Emirates turned itself in a dynamically vibrant airline. Now the

Emirates possess the competitive advantages of operating in regions where the tendency of

air travel is enhanced by social diversification.

Political and Legal Environment:

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For air travel, aviation companies need to acquire license to fly through the air space of

the counties but in case of Dubai there is no such requirement, it is an open market. Due to Dubai

policy of opening up it skies, the Emirates was able to compete with the large stair line of the

world. Emirates now is able to enjoy the advantage of the global market from entering

worldwide destinations like Australia, America and New Zealand all because of the recent

contracts on complete air traffic rights from the respective countries. Aviation deregulation has

enhanced airline organizations to improve open route entrance and exit of airplanes, work on

reasonable fares and travel services. Additionally the liberalization in aviation industry is

growing. Therefore, the competition is turning out to be more and more challenging. Recently,

Emirates Airline was successful in obtaining more landing rights in states of Europe which is

seen as major threat by the local airliners. Numerous carriers have said the Emirates airline due

to getting fuel subsidies from it local government possesses a serious competitive advantage over

their airlines. Therefore should not be given license (Davahran, et.al, 2014).

Technological Environment:

The use of latest technology is a grantee of success in the commercial aviation industry.

The never ending requirement for technological progresses in order to gain competitive

advantage and enjoy opportunities in the profitable business market is dream of the every airline.

The Emirates airline is also completely aware of the importance of technological advancements

in it industry. That’s why it is pursuing the 5 star airline standards. Emirates have recently given

an order for a book stands for its 244airplanes of the latest Airbus and Boeing, having a net

worth of 60 billion US dollars. It is current the youngest and would become one of the most

advance fleets of the entire international commercial airlines. The Emirates airline

recently signed a mobile phone network coverage contract with a telecommunication company,

in order to give its customers the facility to use their mobile phones while they are on the plane.

For several years of its existence, the Emirates airline has also been awarded many performance

awards like having the Best Global Airline Website, and technologically most advances airline of

the world.

Natural Environment:

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Natural environment and maintaining the level is the foremost responsibility of Emirates airline.

This airline thus works at its best in order to maintain its environment by providing best working

environment to its employees

Competitor Analysis

Direct and Indirect Competitors

The companies like Gulf Air Company GSC, Air France, Lufthansa AG, British Airways,

and Qatar Airways Group are main direct competitors and major threats to the Emirates Airline

business. Indirect competitors are countless local airlines in different countries which associated

with its competitors (Davahran, et.al, 2014).

Porter’s Five Forces

The strategies of Emirates airline sever as a function of its environment where it works

and delivers the services of inherent strategic thinking within it carrier planes. The porter’s five

forces will give a detail overview of the current state of the company.

1. Threat of New Entrants: the current scenario shows that existing airline industry has a low

entry barrier. Investment, the prime admittance barriers, is freely present in the Middle East

and expertise and technology can be easily purchased.

2. Power of Suppliers: The two leading suppliers are Airbus and Boeing and competition

between them is obviously visible. Also, the probability of a supplier incorporating vertically

is not very probable.

3. Power of Buyers. The haggling power buyers of airline industry in the Asia Pacific region is

very low.

4. Availability of Substitutes: The number of Threats are quite limited taking into account the

distances in the region and the fast growth is that is a symbol of development of the area.

5. Competitive Rival Situation: The airline industry is termed as one of a highly competitive as

well as highly advanced industry that can also gain low returns due to the cost of competition

that is supposed to be high. This in the future can ruin the entire situation of the industry and

can also spread the disaster in low cycle parameters too. On the other side, Middle East

provides a very different story and this is all because of the government interventions.

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Competitive Strategy and Position Analysis

Strategic capabilities termed as the skills as well as abilities done in order to accomplish

the stage so that a company can easily survive in the market. It is further categorized into two

classes i.e. resources and competences.

Emirate is embedded with threshold resources that comprise of various office equipment,

flights, head quarter, employees and last but not the least its finance resources. Emirate on the

other side has some main resources too that are operating in the form of management team, run

by Ahmed Bin Saeed Makhtoum CEO & Chairman of the stated company. Like resources, this

company does have threshold competences as well which comprises of online booking

procedures; operations related to on time delivery and point to point based routing. The core

competences consists of IT development and management along with route and no frill strategy.

Competitive Advantage

Emirates Airlines id working with enthusiasm in order to properly implement

differentiation generic based strategy by providing high quality and fully equipped services in

order to gain benefit and potential outcomes among their competitors and on the same side to get

a good and remarkable place in the market so that can termed as Leader Company. For this

specific purpose the emirates airlines was termed as one of the 1st Airline in the world who

offered big TV screen in all its all airline and this company also introduced e-ticketing system in

UAE for the very first time.

With the help of segmentation of market this company gained another major competitive

advantage too. This is the only company operating in UAE that is actually providing training by

best ever technology i.e. plane simulator. The aim of these changes is to make this company one

of the leader company (Davahran, et.al, 2014).

SWOT Analysis:

Emirates Airlines is one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, becoming a pioneer

in the industry around the world as a model to follow and compete with. The company has its

own set of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that needs to be highlighted, as

illustrated in the table below:

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Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

Dubai government

support

High competition Continuously

purchasing newest

fleet available

Competitors within

the region following

the same model

High employee

satisfaction

High cost to maintain

brand image

Increase number of

destinations grows

market share

Change in

governmental policies

Wide area of business

activity (72 countries)

Dependent on

international moving

traffic

High customer loyalty Not catering for

budget travelers

Segmentation and targeting:

To grow Emirates Airlines’ name in the international market, the target audience that

they address are people with high purchasing power and are in the upper-middle to upper class of

the population. The segmentation is done through income and occupation. In terms of the income

segmentation, the upper-middle and upper class have the desired amount of expendable money

and are likely to pay for the fares offered by Emirates and look for the type of services and

benefits the flight experience offers. The occupation segmentation categorizes the audience into

‘business class’ and ‘working class’ to divide the target audience and know what percentage is

more likely to fill which section of the plane. The business class seats are advertised to business

travelers, while the regular section would be for the working class, both having different

communication strategies. The working class would need to be inspired to pick Emirates and pay

a high price for a leisure trip by highlighting the different services offered that make the

experience unique. For the business class, where the price is relatively inelastic, the

communication is aimed at the prestige, trusted commitment and efficiency that the flight with

Emirates offers (more spacious, non-stop flights, uncompromised quality).

Identifying these within the UAE and across the different countries that Emirates flies to

is important in order to know how to position the brand and at what price are people willing to

use the services by the airlines. It also helps to decide on the most effective promotion methods

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to attract the audience and identify the effective distribution locations. To guarantee the feeling

of premium traveling, Emirates has a dedicated terminal in Dubai Airports, offering the VIP

treatment even before the customer gets into the plane. Such aspects allow Emirates to justify the

premium that it charges in comparison to its competitors.

Positioning Strategy:

Since 1985 Emirates airlines grown rapidly from just having two aircrafts to 171 wide-

body aircrafts including the world’s largest fleet of Boeing 777s and A380s. Emirates is one of

the largest airlines in which it is trying to position itself as a lifestyle brand, it is not just offering

a transportation from a place to another but a full experience and connection of people’s hopes

and dreams. According to Emirates247, Emirates is “a fast-growing international airline with one

of the youngest fleets in the sky and more than 400 awards for excellence worldwide.” Another

way in which Emirates airlines position itself and make itself well-known and preferable to many

passengers is by the skywards service. According to Emirates, they mention that skyward

programme is an award winning programme in which it costs nothing to join but will change the

way the people see the world forever. People could earn points “miles” and spend them with

emirates or other partners. It can also enhance the travel experience in which they could update

their flight experience and so on.

Product Strategy:

With Emirates airlines a customer is not only a flight attendant who travels with Emirates

airlines, Emirates airlines cares about every need customer to make it an unforgettable

experience. There are 3 different classes in the airplane which are First class, Business class, and

Economy class. Each of these classes has different facilities and services provided to the

customers. To begin with, First class and Business class passengers are offered a complimentary

chauffeur driver to pick up the passengers from their home or hotel to the airport, as well as

driving them from the airport to their final destination. This facility is available in over 70

countries around the world. In Dubai, First class passengers are provided with a Mercedes

vehicle while Business class customers are provided a luxurious Volvo car. Moreover, In the

Dubai airport there are both a First class lounge and a Business class lounge for their passengers.

Passengers would enjoy a direct boarding to the airplane through those lounges as well as having

free Wi-Fi access, a wide selection of food and beverages, and much more. Moving on to the

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flight itself, all the passengers are offered with different and exclusive facilities depending on

their class in the airplane. Each passenger of the First class is provided with a private suite in the

airplane in which they have a personal mini-bar and they could convert their seat into a fully

flatbed as well as having a vanity table and mirror. First class passengers would also enjoy a fine

dining experience throughout the flight. Another facility available to the First class passengers is

a Shower Spa which includes a selection of Bvlgari toiletries and signature Timeless Spa

products. The Business class cabin also lets the passenger have a fully flat bed. Because the

business class is specifically designed to meet the needs of their business passengers such as

businessmen, writers, musicians, and much more, the facilities and services available are a side

table to work on and an in-seat power for the laptop. And finally, Emirates airlines is not only

taking care of the First and Business Class passengers but other passengers in the Economy class

as well. The food that is provided to the passengers is inspired by the destination. There are also

Wi-Fi services in the airplane as well as in flight entertainment for all the passengers. Emirates

inflight entertainment is called ICE which stands for Information, Communication, and

Entertainment. What is meant by information is information about Dubai, the flight, as well as

catching up on news and sports during the flight. Communication is the service of Wi-Fi, data

roaming on mobile phones, and SMS and phone calls through the in-seat airplane phone. And

finally Entertainment, passengers enjoy over 1800 channels of different languages. They could

watch TV shows, movies and video clips, listen to music, and play games.

Pricing strategy

Emirates gained one of the best advantages by operating at ultra-efficient airport that is

providing tax free environment and it is also working on low labor cost too. Airline from 1980

are introducing best ever dynamic pricing based strategies that is then adopted by Emirates. This

therefore allows airlines to best manage the proper seat capacity and by this highest prices can

also be managed. At this point of time, dynamic pricing is termed as a complex methodology that

is related to availability, customer demand as well as competitor pricing too.

Distribution strategy

In the marketing term, the customer along with product and service arenas needs proper

distribution channels in order to generate optimal outcomes. The best ever distribution strategy is

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thus termed as one of the most important feature in order to attract customers towards this

company. Emirates therefore follow different distribution based strategies.

The term intensive based distribution links to the low offer rates of Emirate tickets. This

is an offer especially for winters or summers and is at low rates too. This kind of offers is

generally offered by various ticket channels that are available on Emirate websites too. Emirates

have advantage of this kind of offer as it helps Emirates in working under variety of marketing

activities and furthermore this can boost up the actual demand of its related services too.

Exclusive distribution is another major strategy as adopted by Emirates that helps in

allocating the airline tickets to various tour operators as well as travel agents who are termed as

friendly user and is in link with its business. As a matter of fact when it comes to the specific

service industry, such companies also require wide geographical coverage as well

Selective Distribution on the other side gives variety of offers to some selective

customers as well as to the operators. Emirates on the same side make best use of external

distribution channels where more than one airline competes with each other based on some

ground principles. Nowadays, customers actually compare prices on these kinds of websites and

later make a buying decision that is based on the information they obtain from these websites

(Boyd, et.al, 2012)

Promotion strategy:

Emirates Airlines has developed a promotional strategy that would be in line with the

overall brand image that it constantly maintains and builds, keeping consistent with the brand

identity. The tagline ‘Hello Tomorrow’ has been the main driver of the communications in the

company since 2012, holding many layers of marketing significance and almost always being the

key element in the promotional tactics used by the company. Inspiring the customer, the

consistent messaging pushes the customer to feel the motivational tone of welcoming newer

challenges and taking a step closer to reaching the top with excelling at their job in serving its

customers. The creative strategy behind this approach has become an umbrella campaign that all

promotional messaging falls under, such as announcing new destinations the airlines flies to.

Recently, for example, the flights to Oslo, Norway was launched and the promotion became

titled ‘Hello Oslo’ to ensure a continuity in the customer’s mind.

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Emirates Airlines have a very diverse advertising mix, utilizing numerous touch points at

any given time. The accomplishments of the company are heavily covered through public

relations, in the form of round table sessions with the media and a lot of press release coverage.

In terms of marketing, the company invests in full communication plans, ranging from print ads

and outdoor branding to activations at sponsored events. Emirates, promoting the name and

making it recognizable as a global player in the aviation field as well as an active company

aggressively promoting brand awareness, sponsor the famous football club ‘Manchester City’.

Customer service and relationship activities:

Being an influential company in the UAE as well as in the aviation industry, Emirates

Skywards club has become one of the most bonding examples between a business and

customers. The loyalty program allows frequent Emirates flyers to benefit by collecting points

through a wide range of purchases, allowing them to redeem benefits such as free tickets,

upgrades and other services. The exclusivity has built a relationship and a sense of brand loyalty

between the customers and the company, showing added value to the services offered by

Emirates that goes beyond flying experience.

Even internally, Emirates ‘face card’ for cabin crew as well as employee IDs provide a

long list of discounts and added benefits that the employees could enjoy throughout the UAE.

This provides a service and relationship value that promotes retention of employees and internal

satisfaction and motivation to benefit the company as a whole.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, Emirates is a great and advanced airline system that delivers transportation by

airplanes. The corporation intends to shape a strong market position and surpass a couple of

competitors that encourage them to provide better services. Emirates sell their tickets for a fair

price in regards to the amazing service and security they guarantee the clients. For years now this

airline has been improving and gaining much trust making them one of the many famous airlines

known by the public. Since the day it had been formed only three airplanes had experienced

severe problems making it more desirable for the lower chance of getting into an accident or

crashing down.

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Recommendations:

Recommendation 1:

It is recommended for Emirates airlines to concentrate more on the attitude and the way their

servers or flight attendants act towards the people. Even though the service is good and the place

is comfortable but the some of the attendants may sometimes be rude or a bit careless.

Recommendation 2:

Some consumers who purchase tickets beforehand but come late may sometimes lose their seat

to other early arriving people. Emirates airlines should stop allowing that from happening since

the customer has already paid for the seat it is his/her right to keep it and not be sent to another

less desirable seat.

Recommendation 3:

First, business, and economy classes all have different lounges and would not allow people with

an economy ticket enter business or first and that seems sensible but there should be an exception

to family member when both parents have first class tickets while the children don’t so they are

forced to leave them on their own.

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Appendices:

A. Environmental Context Analysis ……………………… 5

A.1 Demographic Environment …………………………... 5

A.2 Economic Environment …………………………....... 5

A.3 Socio-cultural Environment …………………………. 5

A.4 Political and Legal Environment ……………………… 6

A.5 Technological Environment …………………………... 7

A.6 Natural Environment ………………………………….. 7

B. Competitor Analysis …………………………………… 7

B.1 Competitive Situation Analysis ……………………….. 7

B.2 Direct and Indirect Competitors ………………………. 7

B.3 Analysis of Competitive Strategy and Position ………. 8

B.4 Competitive Advantage ………………………………. 8

C. SWOT Analysis ……………………………………….. 8-9

D. Segmentation and Targeting ………………………….. 9

E. Positioning Strategy …………………………………… 10

F. Product Strategy ……………………………………….. 10-11

G. Pricing strategy ………………………………………... 11

H. Distribution strategy …………………………………… 11-12

I. Promotion strategy ……………………………………… 12-13

J. Customer service and relationship activities ………….. 13

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Reference:

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from http://www.emirates.com/ae/english/about/about_emirates.aspx

Boyd, B., & Hollensen, S. (2012). Strategic management of a family-owned airline:

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Strategy, 3(2), 70-78.

Davahran, D., & Yazdanifard, R. (2014). The Importance of Managing Customer

Service, Safety Quality and Benchmarking of Airports and Airlines to Enhance the Performance

and Customer Loyalty. Global Journal of Management And Business Research, 14(4).

Direction, S. The remarkable record of Emirate Airlines: Product differentiation and cost

control deliver exceptional performance. Strategic Direction, 28(3).

Emirates Airlines in Travel and Tourism. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from

http://www.euromonitor.com/emirates-airlines-in-travel-and-tourism/report

Emirates | SWOT Analysis | BrandGuide | MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share. (n.d.).

Retrieved December 3, 2014, from http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/airlines/534-

emirates.html

New brand campaign by Emirates. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from

http://www.emirates247.com/business/new-brand-campaign-by-emirates-2012-04-02-1.451755

Our Company. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2014, from

http://www.theemiratesgroup.com/english/our-company/our-company.aspx

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https://traveldeconstructed.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/swot-analysis-on-emirates-airlines/

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