A Brief History Of Emirates Marketing Essay

A Brief History Of Emirates Marketing Essay In 1974, three years after independence, the rulers of the UAE decided to establish a joint flag carrier: Gulf Air. However, a tense relationship between the airline and the Dubai government existed ever since its inception, as the latter re fused to give in to Gulf Air’s demands to abandon its open-skies policy. In reaction, Gulf Air reduced frequencies and capacities to and from Dubai by more than two thirds between 1984 and 1985 without advance notice (Wilson 2005). Since foreign carriers proved unable or unwilling to fill the gap, Dubai’s then ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, convened a team of experts – headed by Maurice Flanagan and later joined by Tim Clark and the ruler’s then 26- year old son, Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum – to devise an emergency plan. The group’s recommendation to set up a home carrier for Dubai was quickly accepted by the ruler, but he imposed two conditions: The new airline should meet the highest quality standards and there would be no additional capital injections from the government other than the agreed USD 10 million start-up capital. On October 25th, 1985, Emirates’ first flight departed to Karachi, using an A300, wet-leased from Pakistan International Airlines. The rest is history: in 1987, Emirates began to serve it first two European destinations – London Gatwick and Frankfurt -, from 1995, it has operated an all wide body fleet, and in 2001, 2003 and 2005 Emirates placed some of the largest aircraft orders ever. As of October 2007, Emirates’ route network extends to 91 destinations on all continents. In its last business year, ending March 31st, 2007, the airline transported 17.5 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo on 102 aircraft. Currently, 118 aircraft are on firm order (of which 20 will be all-freighters), including 55 A380 and 43 B777. 1.2 The Emirates Group Emirates Airlines (including its cargo subsidiary Emirates SkyCargo) is only one division of the Emirates Group, a state-owned globally active travel and tourism conglomerate, which provides a plethora of aviation related ancillary services. Finally, the Emirates Group owns 43.6 percent of Sri Lankan Air lines. 1.3 The Dubai Government’s aviation- Related Activities Viewed from an even higher level of aggregation, the Emirates Group, in turn, is only one element in a comprehensive bundle of aviation-related activities, all of which come under the responsibility of Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum: (1) The Dubai World Central Consortium (activity: to build Jebel Ali Airport City including Dubai’s new mega-airport) (2) Dubai’s Department of Civil Aviation (activities: all aviation-related regulatory functions, operator of DXB airport, of Dubai Duty Free and Dubai Cargo Village) (3) Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (activities: aircraft leasing, airport planning and management, consulting, maintenance and aviation-related education and tr aining). Marketing Strategy Mission â€Å"An effective mission statement defines the fundamental, unique purpose that sets a business apart from other firms of its type and identifies the scope of the business’s operations in product and market terms. It is an enduring statement of purpose that reveals an organization’s product or service, markets, customers, and philosophy.† (John A. Pearce II & Fred David, 2006). Emirates Airlines or rather Emirates Group mission statement is simply â€Å"Committed to the highest standards in everything we do.† Being a vast enterprise by itself – Emirates group – the group has been quiet successful in embodying the mission of â€Å"committing to the highest standard† onto its one of its two core corporation (Emirates Airlines) – the other being DNATA, by marketing the brand of Emirates as the pinnacle emblem or a luxury standard throughout the world as an emerging Global Brand.