Emirates Airline To Expand American Routes

Emirates Airline plans to significantly expand its footprint in the US across the next five years.  Additionally, it is possible that all these flights will be operated by the ultra large Airbus A380. Currently Emirates services New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while its Houston services will be switched to Dallas. At this point in time another four or five US destinations are planned.

Thus far primarily Delta airlines has voiced criticism of Emirates operations, while in Europe there are reports of Lufthansa lobbying to restrict Emirates encroaching market share.

Higher Fares or Lower Margins?

In a recent interview with Airline Business magazine the president of Emirates Airlines, Tim Clark said: "The stubbornness of the oil price is giving us concerns about the bottom line. As the rate of growth of our profit has fallen as a result of the oil price, we must [look at our costs]... [Emirates set] some fairly stiff parameters" for the Emirates management team with regard to reducing costs, looking for cuts of 5-8 per cent.

If oil prices continue to increase who will be more subject to the pinch, customers with higher fares or shareholders with reduced margins? Are there alternative methods of cost management and increasing revenues that businesses should be looking into? One could argue this economic situation bodes well for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and for various other customer facing technologies. 

Turkish Airlines to provide wifi/internet and live TV

Turkish Airlines will be the first carrier to offer live inflight television on Trans-Atlantic flights. The carrier will also become among first European airlines by introducing wifi internet access to it’s passengers via the PLANET IFE Platform, a Global Communication Suite System developed by Panasonic Avionics Corporation. TV programming will initially include access to BBC World, BBC Arabic and Euronews channels with sport channels to be added. Passengers will be able to go online using their mobile devices such as (ipad, notebook, tablets) on available Turkish Airlines flights.

I'm wondering if the FAA from the US side of things would allow full internet for inbound flights? As their security measures reflect a different perspective on aviation.

Flydubai Partnership With Citibank

Citibank card holders can now convert their Citi Miles and CitiDollars into Flydubai vouchers which can then be used to purchase Flydubai products and services through the website or call center. Flydubai CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith said: “Flydubai is all about catering to our passenger’s needs. We aim to make the whole experience, from booking and paying for flights to reaching a destination on time, easier and partnerships such as this are part of that commitment to quality and convenient travel.” 

As a customer its great to observe Flydubai expanding their customer outreach via new products and partnerships. The gulf budget carriers are making good headway towards customer benefiting partnerships (banks, hotels, car rental service) that foster a more comprehensive travel service.

Flydubai, Dubai’s first low cost airline and the world’s fastest growing start-up airline, maintains a global route network to 44 destinations across the GCC, Middle East, North Africa, Indian sub-continent, Asia and the fringes of Europe. Citibank has been present in the Middle East for more than 50 years and is directly represented in UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

Pegasus Airlines - Turkey's first low-cost and fastest growing airline

Pegasus Airlines has made the shortlist of companies nominated for Best Website at the 8th annual Budgies Awards, part of the forthcoming World Low Cost Airlines Congress. The carrier was the first full low-cost model service in Turkey and has become the fastest growing airline in Turkey. It expanded the number of its customers 4.5-fold in just 5 years.

As a traveller I found Pegasus Airlines better than the UK based budget carriers, however I was surprised that they didn't have a mileage program at the time (summer 2011). Oddly, sometimes their flights are priced above British Airways but that must have been a random event (I hope).

Etihad Airways: Airline of the Year in the 2011 TTG Travel Awards

Etihad Airways has been named Airline of the Year in the 2011 TTG Travel Awards. It’s the latest in a series of honours to be bestowed on Etihad in recent months including the carriers Diamond First Class being judged the best in the world by Skytrax, the aviation industry’s pre-eminent global rankings system, determined by the votes of 19 million travellers from more than 100 different countries. 

 

Fly Dubai & Car Rental Service

Dubai's budget carrier, Fly Dubai, has expanded its service offering to customers by providing global car rentals. Travellers can find the best available rates from more than 650 rental companies across 35,000 cities and airports in 185 countries.


From a customer standpoint its great to see Budget Carriers expanding their platform of services rendered. Would be great down the line if carriers could provide disposable sim cards pre departure that are suitable for the destination countries - and have this available as an option just like pre selecting a meal - and allow this to be done through a smart phone.

Qatar Airways, Customer Loyalty & Savings On Fares

Several times this summer Qatar Airways has offered short 48 - 72 hour long promotional fares. Earlier there was an offer of two for one roundtrip tickets. More recently there was 25% off fares.

Qatar Airways Vice- President Africa, Ihab Sorial, said: “These are incredible fares we are offering to our loyal customers and customers travelling with Qatar Airways for the first time."

Couldn't it be more productive for customers and for Qatar Airways if they announced slightly in advance of upcoming promotional offers? It could really jolt their online social media followers to engage much more and it would get more overall attention. 

Shareholder And/Or Customer's Burden?

830+ Dreamliner 787's are on order to 55 airlines, including Gulf carriers Qatar Airways, Gulf Air and Etihad Airways and Amman-based Royal Jordanian. After a series of delays the carrier is expected by the second half of 2014. Royal Jordanian CEO Hussein Dabbas said the airline had suffered losses as a result of delays to the fuel-efficient 787 due to $100 oil.

As a customer I wonder where the losses hit more, to the shareholder (through decreased sales or margins) or to the end customer (with higher ticket prices)? From a business standpoint which party deserves more priority?

Emirates hiring 4,000 employees through Spotify

Nike and Apple have made a conscious effort to portray themselves in a unique light by hiring through new media platforms (Facebook, Spotify etc...). Interestingly, Emirates is employing a similar approach by advertising 4,000 cabin-crew jobs via online music provider Spotify. Due to the addition of five A380's (for a total of 20) the carrier must increase its flight attendant numbers to 16,000 by March 2012.  The Spotify advertisement mentions the reasons for moving to Dubai such as: its cosmopolitan nature, restaurants, sports facilities and sunny climate. However, branching out into new media doesnt mean the carrier has exited traditional methods as they still hold 77 recruitment fairs in countries spanning from Paraguay to Armenia.

From a customer perspective its interesting to consider the implications for a carrier using new media - certainly there will be new tools down the road for customer support and booking changes etc... How soon till customers are using their smartphones to make a meal change at the last minute for a flight? Or using the facebook app to get last minute info on the walking distance/time to the departure gate that is still to be announced?

Bahrain Air partnering with Local Hotel

On Aug 15 Bahrain Air announced a partnership with the newly opened Hotel Diva located in the Juffair district in Bahrain.  The carrier has placed a dedicated booking system for the ease of guests and staff to book tickets instantly within the hotel.

It would be great to see such partnerships replicated and expanded with other carriers and hotels in the region.  Customers stand to benefit from the added convenience and hotels/carriers could mutually mitigate off peak season empty seats/rooms, and with a little planning such partnerships could even be leveraged through further carrier alliances (Imagine if Star Alliance Carriers like Turkish Airlines and Singapore Airlines developed a strong network of hotel partnerships in the Middle East and South East Asia).

http://www.thedivahotel.com/