Emirates Airlines: Operations Management Report and Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Emirates Airlines' operations management. It begins with background information on the airline, tracing its history and business activities. The report identifies and evaluates Emirates' strategic vision, mission, and aims, emphasizing their importance in brand management and shaping business strategy. It then critically analyzes the strategic challenges faced by the organization, followed by a SWOT analysis to assess its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report concludes with recommendations based on the analysis and a summary of the key findings, offering insights into Emirates' market position and growth trajectory.

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Tourism and Hospitality Operations Management
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Background information of the Emirates Airways................................................................................3
Identification and evaluation of strategic vision, mission, and aims of the organization.......................5
Critical analysis of the strategic challenges the organization faces........................................................8
SWOT analysis.......................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations...............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................11
References...........................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
With the introduction of the airways, the transportation becomes easily as well thus there has
been the significant increase in the movement of the people in various parts of the world.
This has helped tourism sector to grow and see new trends (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully,
2013). Taking about the current scenario there are lots of players which are available in the
market who are delivering quality services and out of all Emirates is one of them. It is the
largest carrier in the Gulf and also has been known sponsoring some of the biggest teams in
the world. This below-mentioned task is basically an organizational report through keeping
the scenario of Emirates airlines. There will be the overview of this organization thus
highlighting the history of the company and after it, there is brief about its business activities
and its structure. After that, there is identification and evaluation of the strategic vision,
mission, and aims of the company (Buhalis and Crotts, 2013). Vision and mission help an
organization in setting their business in the organised way as they are aware that what they
want from the business activities they will be carrying out. Other than there is the critical
analysis of the strategic challenges the organization faces.
Background information of the Emirates Airways
They are the airline which has maintained the market all around the world. Today it has
become the world leader and this story started in the 1980s when Dubai flights were scaled
by airline Gulf Air (Albalate, Bel & Fageda, 2015). This was the move which has made the
concern that was in Dubai as they thought that they were assisting other flight groups by only
serving as local feeder airlifts. After this, the royal family of Dubai especially Sheikh
Mohammed Bin Al Maktoum and Sir Maurice were discussing the launching of a new airline
in Dubai. Finally, in 1985 they came out with a small airline. Sir Flanagan was appointed to
set up a new airline with $10 million as he was happy with this success of working at Dnata.
It was the just that he wanted to decide the name. He has suggested the name of the airlines as
both Dubai Airlines and Emirates but it was the Sheikh who decided that the country’s new
airline will be called as Emirates (Ashworth & Goodall, 2012). After one year the investment
of $10 million was easily repaid thus getting a better positive start of the transporter.
The official launch date of the Emirates airline is March 25, 1985, and they have decided to
work without the support of the government thus taking any kind of funds of them (Bendito
& Ramírez, 2011). Sheikh Ahmad became its Chairman and Sir Maurice as CEO of the

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airlines started looking forward to starting their run. Time Clark who was working with the
organization was on the priority of becoming the president of the airline in future. As they
have enough money to purchase anything for aircrafts so they have dedicated to starting a
deal with the Pakistan International Airlines who gave the wet lease of two aircraft and
among them, one was new Boeing 737-300 and an Airbus A300 B4-200.
Other than this at the same time the royal family of Dubai gave two other aircraft from the
Dubai Royal Air Wing as a gift to them. Boeing 727-200 was the two aircrafts (Bornhorst,
Ritchie & Sheehan, 2010). The Emirates put their effort to ensure that they secure the deal
with the flights to Karachi as well as the roots of an agreement. Not only Karachi, New Delhi,
and Bombay were the major cities. The first airline of Emirates started on Oct 25, 1985, to
the Karachi destination under the flight number EK600.
Flight from the started the flights of Emirates saw a new hike and it can be said that there has
been the hike in the organization and as the result, the share of Gulf Air came down up to
56% in their profits but after that year more profit has gone down (Buhalis & Michopoulou,
2011). In the same year, they have started the flights for other four routes and these were
Amman, Colombo, Cairo, and Dhaka.
The success of the airlines continued in the year 1987 when the acquisition of their 1st new
aircraft Airbus A310 taken place (Croy, 2010). This aircraft was built according to the
specification or features which would attract the new people and was according to the Airbus
were offering a passenger superior a flying experience as compared to their opponents.
It was from the starting to the 7 years they maintained a growth rate of 30% and it was the
year in 1988 when they have started their flight to Damascus and then they were the first one
to have such growth in just 38 months of business. Till then they were offering their services
to 11 destinations and after this, it was the 12th destination.
Till the 1990s it becomes one of the world's quickest-mounting airlines and when they started
their journey they had the revenue of approx. $100 million each year. By 1993 this number
has sudden gone up to $500 million by 1993 (Danaher & Rossiter, 2011). At the same time,
they have changed the trend in this segment and do not stop here and continued with the
growth rate. Although during that time there was Gulf War started this has hardly impacted
them.

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In the year 1991 they gained success in obtaining a slit at the London Heathrow Airport
which at that time was known for one of the areas for world businesses. To make some
technological changes that they have introduced a person in-flight amusement system
throughout the chalet on board the whole fleet. The only flight which has done this thing in
past was Virgin Atlantic they started this in1990 but they have not done on the whole. In the
same year, Emirates become the 1st aircraft to order a $20million full Airbus Simulator. In
order to expand their market been have started making conversation with the French
government so that they can fly to Paris. It was observed that they were facing the issue of
space available in the aircraft so they had decided to spend $2 million on a terminal at Dubai
International Airport. A minibar is provided with closing doors providing privacy. A 23 Led
is also given with a 2 meter long fully flatbed (Du, Bhattacharya & Sen, 2010). The
Skycrusier seating is part of Boeing 777-300s. Catering on Emirates flights is given by
Emirates Flight Catering. They provide meals for all classes, based on the age, dietary
restrictions, preferences and religious interest.
Emirates have total 239 fleets and fly over 141 destinations of 81 nations and other than this
they also provide cargo activities through Emirates Sky-Cargo (Evans, Stonehouse &
Campbell, 2012). They have mixed fleet of Airbus and Boeing widebody aircraft so they are
considered as one of the few aircraft to execute in all wide-body airplanes fleet.
Emirates give their services in the 1st class, Business class, and Economy class. In 1st class,
there are two varieties of spaces that is full suite with doors and flatbed ‘Skycrusier' seat that
means it is without the door.
Today, Emirates has expanded themselves into different services which are concerned with
the airport services, engineering, and catering and tour operator functions. They have 7
subsidiaries and its parent organization has more than 50 (Fredman & Tyrväinen, 2010.
Approximately they have the total staff of 50000 and out of which 10785 are handling the
position of cabin crew, 2,237 are flight deck crew, 1,904 are in engineering and etc. They
provide various benefits to their staff like comprehensive health plans and paid maternity and
sick leave.
Identification and evaluation of strategic vision, mission, and aims of the organization
Fly Emirates are known for its high-class service in all over the world which is bounded by
its vision and mission (Hays, Page & Buhalis, 2013). Vision and mission are important as it

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assists in the creation of successful brand management. The strategic success of the firm
depends on the ways it has made vision, mission and aim for the company. It is also essential
to communicate all these to their staffs so that they know what they are working for. It also
helps in shaping the business strategy of the firm as well as it helps in defining the direction
following which company can gain its position in the market share and shape the increment
growth curve. For such a passionate company as the Fly Emirates it is important for the firm
to set clearer goals (Horng & Tsai, 2010). Vision, mission, and aim of the company are as
follows:
Vision:
To be the leader in the airline's industry especially in the innovation, environment protection
with the global network of coverage which is further a gift of its strict compliances with
responsibility, safety in flight, dependability, product and service quality (Lähdesmäki,
2012). It sets itself for the competitiveness while creating tourism without limits to alter the
lives for better.
One of the greatest examples of embodiment of vision set by Emirates can be seen in its
campaign that is launched under the name "Hello Tomorrow" launched in the year 2014. This
type of strategic vision helps to shape future strategy for the company so as to perform their
activities in a best possible manner (Moriarty et al., 2014).
Mission
The mission statement of Emirate airlines states the ways in which it will reach to place in the
international flight where it wants to be:
 To develop and grow as the most coveted facility throughout the world (Morrison,
2013).
 To deliver the product and service in the market that is having the highest quality
standards.
 Enhancing the comfort for the passengers so as to provide them extensive pleasure.
 To maintain a sustained development leanings over an industry.
 Capitalize in new expertise so as to satisfy the needs of the customers and making the
bigger name in the market.
 To reduce the crashes or accidents to almost zero (Pike & Page, 2014).

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 Maintaining the tactic of open sky determining new borders for consumers and
clients.
 Taking care of the environment by making use of eco-efficiency, biofuel also
involving all the updated mechanism and methods for preventing fuel and emission.
 To invest more in the workers so as to develop the qualities that help in maintaining
the competitive staffs (Redondi, Malighetti & Paleari, 2011).
Through this entire strategic mission they want to achieve some of the key values:
 Customer gratification: Forestalling the exact requirement of the consumers,
thoroughly analyzing and meeting them as well as operating as a consumer-focused
firm.
 Leadership: To develop the quality of the leadership which tends to motivate their
employees and hence influencing activities and thoughts of people so that they work
together to achieve common goals.
 Emotional attachment: To become consumer's choice by considering emotional ties
and bonds by delivering its character and emotion (Shani et al. 2010). For this, they
make use of high-class staffs as well as making expensive advertisement campaigns.
 Reliability: They want to be reliable by delivering one-time performance, minimum
luggage cost, an absence of accidents or crashes etc.
 Community engagement: They want to increase brand awareness among consumers,
social media existence, charity, sponsorships and donation campaigns. Celebrity
endorsements are the prime technique of advertisements.
 Accountability: Places great worth on communal nationality and social responsibility
and believes in its own business ethics, promoting pollution-free business.
 High-quality service and product: Producing best quality services and products for the
comfort of people.
 Innovation: This Company links its consumer requirements with a strategy of
innovation with a newest fleet in aviation industry creating the fascinating experience
for consumers. They implement new strategies and ideas for processes so that whole
productivity of the firm gets increased.
 Professionalism and teamwork: It trains its employees so as to enrich them with best
industrial practices (Kotler, 2014). They are highly investing in the professional
standards of the firm which helps in making competitive advantage in the market.

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This company believes in the power of working in teams and hence has adopted a
culture where every firm can achieve more accurate results.
The aim of the company is as follows:
 Emirates aims to become the world leader in the aviation industry in future.
 Increasing the customer satisfaction level by enhancing the quality of the services
that it is delivering.
 To expand its business in the across new boundaries and finding routes that cover
almost all the places all around the world.
 To support the life of the stakeholders by increasing their profit sharing in the
organization and doubling the economic strength of the employees.
 To work for the society for uplifting its standards.
Critical analysis of the strategic challenges the organization faces
There are various strategic challenges that are faced by the Emirates. Some of the main
challenges that are faced by the organization:
 Competition: There are a large number of companies that are operating in airlines
industry hence it is making the competition cutthroat hence making the whole
environment red. Since the company has to tackle such a large competition hence it
has to make business plans in a better way. Some of the biggest competitors such as
British Airways are having the large amount of resources which it can utilize for its
development and come out of the competition (Nkechi, Emeh Ikechukwu and
Okechukwu, 2012).
 Fuel prices: With the depleting crude oil levels and increasing conflicts in the middle
east countries have raised the fuel prices. There is inflation in every part of the
company and hence it is reflected in the prices of the crude oils. This has increased
the costing of the overall operations and hence the profit margins of the company
have decreased. This has lead company to find new kinds of fuels especially that suits
the environment.
 Pollution: Since the governments all around the world are forcing companies to make
use of methods that reduce pollution. The transportation industry has been hit by the
pollution standards all around the world.

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 Inflation rates: Due to increasing in the inflation rate all around the world this
company is facing a lot of financial strategic challenges. Due to high prices for the
flight tickets customers are unable to purchase it especially in the developing
countries. The inflation rate has reduced the power of the consumers to spend more
and has been reflected in the business of the firm.
 Economic instability: There is huge economic instability all around the world
especially in the European continent. The case of Greece and slowdown of the
American economy has reduced the revenue generation capacity of the firm. This
kind of economic instabilities has decreased chances of the company to expand its
business in new horizons and hence has increased the chances of business failure and
hence the company has to formulate the new financial strategy to combat such
conditions. The previous cash deposits with the company are helping it in such kinds
of situations.
 Political changes: There had been many new political bonds that have been made all
around the world and at the same time many have broken. This had changed the laws
and policies of immigration which needs to be taken care of by the company.
 Legal laws: There are many kinds of legal laws that have changed all around the
world and hence company needs to comply with all those so as to ensure that is no
legal glitch in its operations. Legal laws related to employment as well as
environmental pollution are a great challenge for the development of the company.
 Industry: This industry is on the rise as more and more people are choosing flight as a
medium for traveling (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, 2015). Especially with the
expansion of the tourism industry the aviation industry has also been benefitted. Even
after such a large potential for growth due to extensive completion, it has become
difficult for the company to operate its functions.
SWOT analysis
Strengths
 Emirates have large back support of one of the financial stable economy that is Dubai.
Government helps company in any financial crisis.
 It has an advantage of being present at the Oil Rich country like Emirates which helps
them in getting less fuels at lower price.

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 Strong position in Dubai has helped company in having access to Emirates airlines
across Europe and Asia.
 Large number of customer base who are highly satisfied by the company operations.
 Having a large workforce of around 50000 workers. Such a diverse workforce helps
company in satisfying the needs of various consumers all around the globe.
 It is having its connecting flights to across 70 plus countries in 6 continents.
Weakness:
 Rely heavily on the international traffics.
 Higher cost of tickets has reduced the number of customers who are availing the
products and services of the company.
 Low presence in the local or domestic airlines
Opportunities
 Brand new fleet added in the airlines base can help in adding confidence in the
company operations.
 Finding new tourism destinations for extending the market share.
 Expanding in new markets especially in developing countries by taking use of joint
ventures.
Threats
 Increasing competition in Middle East Market can affect the business of the company.
 Rise in the fuel cost have reduced the profit margins of the company.
 Many changes in the government and business policies all around the globe has
created panic in tourism as well as airlines industry.
 Increasing instability in the market have reduced the company chances of making risk
oriented business.
Recommendations
After analysing the above-based report some of the things that can be recommended are as
follows:
 The company can expand its business in the domestic markets all around the world
especially in the countries such as India and China.
 To become the global leader in the airline's industry the quality of the services needs
to enhanced especially making use of the innovation in technology:
 The company can make the strategic alliance with domestic airlines company so as to
increase the market share of the firm.

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 Emirates can use its financial resources for training and development of the
employees so that they can serve in a better way.
 Extra facilities to the customers can help a company in achieving higher satisfaction
level.
Conclusion
From the above-based report, it can be concluded that Emirate Airlines is one of the leading
company in the aviation industry. This company has its business all over the world. This
company has made the innovation on the part of their business strategy. They want to make
business plans according to the need of the market as well as to achieve competitive
advantages. Creating a vision and mission of the company is very important as it helps staffs
in moving in a particular direction. So it is also essential for the leaders to make use of the
teamwork as well as train their employees as per their requirement. There are several
strategic factors that are disturbing the position of the company in the market and it is
important for the firm to make plans to tackle this entire situation. More use of technology
will be highly beneficial for the company.

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