Emirates Airlines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Emirates Airlines - Essay Example The Airbus A310-304 was the first aircraft that Emirates received the delivery as per its specifications during the year 1987. By 1990, Emirates had the several routes added to Singapore, Manila, Bangkok, Manchester, Damascus. In 1992, Emirates purchased $20 million Airbus equipped with full flight simulator. Moreover, a new terminal was opened at Dubai International in the same year. By 1995, the Emirates had a fleet that served to 34 locations including Europe, Middle East, and Far East. With rapid expansion taking place during the year 1997, Emirates ordered 16 Airbus A330 worth $2 billion. Came the year 1998 and Airlines opened another terminal at Dubai International with the capital outlay of $540 million. In 2003, the airlines expanded rapidly placing order for 71 aircraft worth $19.1 billion. In the year 2004, the airlines inaugurated its first non-stop flight to New-York. By 2005, the Emirates Airlines had 25,000 people on its payroll becoming Dubai’s biggest employer. In the year 2007, in a bid to expand further, Emirates ordered for Airbus and Boeing aircrafts worth $34.9 billion. By 2009, the company was the largest operator of the Boeing 777 (Gulfnews 2010). Markets The mission of Emirates Airlines is to build and maintain market leadership through innovation. Emirates' Sky Cargo business contributes 20 percent of the company's total revenue. The Emirates Airlines is currently connected to all continents serving 103 destinations covering 65 countries (The Emirates Group, 2011). More new destinations are being added every year to expand further. It has now earned a global reputation in aviation. Ever since 2000, Emirates has been focusing more on long distance flights and the non-stop flight is a discerning feature of Emirates Airlines serving to destinations as far as US, Australia, Argentina (Wolfganghthome 2012). Strategy The customer satisfaction has been a major motto of Emirates Airlines. The airline serves all kinds of travelers by prov iding for three different classes namely economy, business and first class customers. The prices are appropriately charged to attract all classes of customers. While charging the price, it takes into account even the timings of the flight. Frequent travelers get hefty discounts on their tickets for their loyalty towards the airline (Howard, 2009). In a survey carried out by Skyscanner.net for the quality of food served in 19 different international airlines, the Emirates Airlines topped amongst all (Skyscanner, 2011). Thus, the airline offers right product mix with excellent cuisine at the most appropriate price. The airlines’ spending on marketing and promotional activities has been to the tune of ?150m a year. Currently, the company spends 50 percent of its marketing budget on sponsorship alone and that has created a huge popularity of the company in the international arena. Communication has been another stronghold of the Emirates airline as launch of a new route is massiv ely advertised to attract the prospective customers (Burrell, 2008) Competition The company faces severe competition from the other airlines such as Qatar Airways and Ethiad Airways. Rising oil prices have put all the airlines on tenterhooks due to rising cost and declining revenues due to recessionary economic conditions prevailing in Europe and US. The airline has been found to compete with more than 120 international airlines at the headquarter city – in Dubai alone (The Emirates Gro