An Analysis of the Emirates Airline Operation Management System

Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Overall Process of Operations at Emirates

2. Order Winners and Order Qualifiers
2.1 How Objectives of Operations are achieved by Emirates Airline
2.1.1. Cost
2.1.2 Quality
2.1.3 Flexibility
2.1.4 Speed
2.1.5 Dependability Element

3 The Competitive Edge of Company against its Competitors

4. How Emirates achieved maximum satisfaction of customers
4.1 Flight delays
4.2 Effective baggage-handling system
4.3 Guidance to customers in case of any delay
4.4 Efficient System for Information

5. How the Four Stage Model of Hayes & Wheel is incorporated by Emirates for its Operations
5.1 Internal Neutrality
5.2 External neutrality
5.3 Internal support
5.4 External support

6. Recommendations

7. Conclusion

References

1. Introduction

Travel is much more common today than it used to be before. The advancement of technology has brought about various ways to travel. In order to satisfy the growing demand of travelers, the airline industry is putting in plenty of effort to make sure all expectations are met, and travelers are satisfied. Among the various airline companies around the world, Emirates holds an important place as the best. The airline’s great service, good organization and overall fantastic offer make it a favorite for many people.

The first airline that Dubai and other Emirate countries collaborated with in order to meet the demand for flights that was constantly growing. However, their cooperation was not successful: Gulf air kept breaching the sky policies, and by 1985, the flights they were doing fell down by two thirds. The people continued to demonstrate the demand for air-travel, and hence the country realized it is in need of its own airline. This is the story of the Emirates Airline, which began with an investment of $10 million, and has been on an upward track ever since its initiation [Doganis, 2010].

Apart from serving to the demand in the UAE, it is evident from the company’s campaigns that it is intending to establish itself as the leader in the worldwide airline industry. Although it is relatively new to the industry, the company has already set itself apart by providing fantastic service. Until now, it has received more than 500 awards and it appears it is going to go for much more. The company works with DANATA, an air service provider that is now ranking fourth according to size [www.emirates.com]. The airline has a non-stop working operation system, and is efficient all year long. There are no unexpected situations that will not be dealt with promptly, as there is a special team in charge of addressing such unanticipated incidents. The company, therefore, successfully provide consistently outstanding services even in unforeseen situations. A body of more than 62,000 employee’s works constantly to make sure the quality of service they deliver is at a high standard [www.emirates.com].

This report will look at a number of criteria that should be met in order to create the most customer satisfaction possible.

- Emphasizing the major steps required for fulfilling of the criteria for order winning and qualification
- Analyzing and discussing the methods used as a means of evaluation of the success

1.1 Overall Process of Operations at Emirates

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Source: developed on the base of Slack et al (2007, page4)

2. Order Winners and Order Qualifiers

An order winner is defined as the time when a consumer purchases the product of the company because he or she feels that the said company’s product will give more than similar products from rival companies. If consumers buy more of the products then this signifies more profits for the firm and, consequently, greater differentiation of the product from other similar ones. Any company that utilized its strategies to fulfill the five factors of the performance model can be an order winner [et al 2008]. The five goals of the performance model are quality, speed, dependability, cost and flexibility as shown in below figure. Emirates is an example of a company that has successfully employed this model in order to ensure paramount service. The individual firms can choose to focus on any of the five objectives, and it appears that, in the case of Emirates, this is quality. The airline has always emphasized the greater importance of quality over quantity. The company has numerous services that are supposed to ensure the best possible traveling experience, some included and some at an additional cost. The practice of offering media entertainment in the air was initiated by this Airline, enabling its travelers to watch TV and listen to the radio. Keeping up with modern trends, the airline now also offers access to the Internet and use of its telephone in-flight [www.emirates.com].

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Source: Waters, (2002)

Order qualifying is another business concept, related to the lowest standard a company must live up to, below which it will be eliminated from the market and consumers will switch to another product [Andrew 2007]. Emirates has very successfully used this concept to determine the lowest possible quality of service they must provide.

2.1 How Objectives of Operations are achieved by Emirates Airline

According to Slack (2010) there are internal and external effects of the performance objectives as shown below figure.

External and external effects of performance objectives

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Source: Slack (2010)

2.1.1. Cost

As Waters, (1999) explains, the success of an organization is guaranteed if its managers are aware how to maximize profits while keeping the cost of operation the lowest. The Emirates management team has a very successful pricing policy, which is an instant attraction to future consumers. The price of flying with Emirates is about 25-30% lower than by other companies, especially European ones. This has given Emirates a big advantage over its competitors. The company has elaborate, well-thought policies for the entire world, such as Australia, Malaysia and Auckland. Despite the low prices, Emirates still delivers exquisite services throughout the flying classes [www.emirates.com]. As the figure below demonstrates, Emirates comes sixth in terms of its cost-control strategies; it allows them to offer the best prices and beat their rivals because of the cost advantage. The price of the Emirate services is significantly lower than what airline travelers are used to. The prices mostly differ on the basis of destination and the class the consumers choose to travel by. Tickets for Emirates flights can conveniently be booked by phone or at the airline counters [www.eturbonews.com].

2.1.2 Quality

Quality refers to flawless delivering and performance of the purchased goods or services. It remains an open question whether it is possible to precisely assess the quality of goods and services, as there are many factors influencing this process [Slack, et al 2013].

The quality of a good or service can be improved by examining the value added process for the consumer, and implementing innovative techniques [Slack, Chambers, Betts, and Johnson 2009]. The popularity of Emirates airline is demonstrated in the fact that most travelers whose destination is Europe, the Middle East or New Zealand prefer to travel by Emirates. The company has successfully created a strong brand image in the past twenty years. The quality of service of the airline is a combination of low prices and various innovative strategies. When compared to KLM, the prices of Emirates flights are around 40% cheaper, while still using the same A380 and Boeing 777 airplanes [www.emirates.com]. Furthermore, the company takes the opinions of its users very seriously, and guarantees a response to a complaint within 60 days of it being posted through the complaint service on their official website [KPMG 2013, Emirate website 2014].

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