COMMERCE
PROJECT
SWOT Analysis Of
Emirates Airlines
An Introduction to SWOT Analysis
We have a wide range of SWOT analysis examples completed for popular
companies both in the UK and internationally, if you're looking for something
more generic take a look at our introduction to PESTEL analysis. We're
always looking to expand our resources so check back if you don't see a guide
for the company you're looking for.
SWOT is an acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
It is the culmination of much internal analysis and external research.
Thinking about the outcome, one can define SWOT analysis as the extent to
which a firm’s current strategy, strengths and weaknesses are relevant to the
business environment that the company is operating in.
SWOT analysis is often presented in a matrix form:
Strengths and weaknesses are internal aspects and Kotler (1988) suggests
that these should cover the four areas of marketing, financial, manufacturing
and organisational.
Opportunities and threats look at the main environmental issues such as the
economic situation, social changes such as the population getting older and
technological developments including the internet.
What is supposed to be emphasised upon :
Strengths
▪ Strong, experienced marketing team
▪ High brand recognition
▪ Well established consumer testing panel
Weaknesses
▪ Prices perceived to be too high
▪ Costs spiralling out of control due to increases from raw material
suppliers
▪ Inconsistent brand identity
Opportunities
▪ Growth of the internet leading to an increase in the number of
consumers willing to buy online
▪ New emerging teen market
Threats
▪ New 'affordable luxury’ entrants to the market threatening to take share
from premium brands
▪ Major competitor planning to integrate vertically and sell direct to the
consumer
A SWOT can be performed for companies, departments and divisions as well
as individual people. Whatever the focus is the results will be very individual,
even to companies competing in the same sector. One company may see new
technology increasing the number of consumers who wish to buy online as an
opportunity for ecommerce yet another player in the market, without any in-
house internet expertise, may see this as a threat.
Importance of SWOT analysis
The lies in its ability to help clarify and summarise the key issues and
opportunities facing a business. Value lies in considering the
implications of the things identified and it can therefore play a key role
in helping a business to set objectives and develop new strategies. The
ideal outcome would be to maximise strengths and minimise weaknesses
in order to take advantage of external opportunities and overcome the
threats. For example, the environment may present an opportunity for a
new product but if the company does not have the capacity to produce
that product it may either decide to invest in new plant and machinery
or to just steer clear.
Advantages of SWOT analysis
The biggest advantages of SWOT analysis are it is simple and only costs time
to do. It can help generate new ideas as to how a company can use a particular
strength to defend against threats in the market. If a company is aware of the
potential threats then it can have responses and plans ready to counteract
them when they happen.
Disadvantages of SWOT analysis
A typical SWOT analysis is a usually a simple list and not critically presented.
If a company is thinking about compiling lists it may not be focused
sufficiently on how to achieve its objectives. Taking a list approach can also
result in items not being prioritised. For example, a long list of weaknesses
may appear to be 'cancelled out’ by a longer list of strengths, regardless of
how significant those weaknesses are.
What is an Ideal SWOT analysis
It is more than a simple checklist. It will consider the degree of strength and
weakness versus its competitors to determine how good that strength really
is. A company may have a strong research and development team but a
competitor’s could be even stronger. A good SWOT should also look the size
of an opportunity or threat and show how these inter-relate with its strengths
and weaknesses.
Emirates
Introduction of Emirate Airline
Emirate Airlines was founded in the year 1985 with the support of the Sheikh
of the United Arab Emirates. The Dubai government in agreement with the
Pakistan International Airlines helped in the formation of the airline
(Graham, 2010). The initial destinations included Bombay, Delhi in India and
Karachi. Currently, Emirates offers a number of scheduled, international,
regional and domestic destinations. This ranges to a total of about 75
destinations in over 53 countries. Emirates Airline is part of the Emirates
group. The group consists of various entities such as the airlines division,
aircraft maintenance division as well as the cargo division. Other divisions
include the hospitality division, an aviation college as well as transguard
division. The aviation college was instituted to offer training and development
of staff and partner organisations in the group.
In addition, Emirates Airlines in one of the few airlines that hardly felt the
harsh economic and aviation downtime in the past few years. This is as a
result of the great marketing trends aimed at promoting Dubai as a world
class tourism destination with tax-free shopping. In addition, Emirates
Airlines also strives in promoting its hub in Dubai (Graham, 2010). This is
because Dubai is believed to be the best geographically positioned city in
connecting Asia and Europe. Since Dubai is known for its trade, Emirates
Airlines operates large cargo aircrafts because of the large tourist’s number.
This explains why Emirates Airlines is in a position to accommodate
expanding international and regional market cargo demands. The main goal
of Emirates Airlines is to keep expanding and this is the very reason why their
market keeps expanding.
Emirates Airlines was ranked the largest airlines carrier in the Middle East
and among the ten largest in the world. This research was based on the
international passenger traffic. Emirates Airlines is a fast growing
international airline in possession of some of the youngest fleets of aircrafts
and closely above 400 awards of excellence internationally.
General Information:
Founded 25 March 1985; 34 years ago
Commenced 25 October 1985
operations
Hubs Dubai International Airport
Frequent-flyer Skywards
program
Subsidiaries • Arabian Adventures
• Congress Solutions International
• Emirates Holidays
• Emirates Tours
Fleet size 254
Destinations 161
Company slogan Fly Emirates.
From Dubai to destinations around the world.
Keep Discovering
Hello Tomorrow
Fly Better (current)
Parent company The Emirates Group
Headquarters Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Key people • Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum
(Chairman & CEO)
• Tim Clark (President)
Revenue US$ 13.3 billion (Nov. 2018)
Net income US$ 62 million (Nov. 2018)
Employees 60,282 (March 2019)
Mission:
“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 organisation’s product or service,
markets, customers, and philosophy.”.
Emirates Airlines or rather Emirates Group mission statement is simply
“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 “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.
Branding:
Boeing 777-300ER with the Expo 2020 Orange Livery at Sydney Airport
In the 1990s, Emirates launched its first set of commercials with the slogan So
be good to yourself, Fly Emirates. In 1999, it launched a very rare A330-200
launch commercial with different pictures showing its aircraft with the
original logo and the current logo (which was launched a few months before).
Commercials have reappeared in 2002, though the airline would not adopt
the slogan Fly Emirates. Keep Discovering until 2004. In 2008, Emirates
launched a slogan mainly revolving around its route network of 100
destinations in 59+ countries across six continents – Fly Emirates. Keep
Discoveringand Fly Emirates. To over Six Continents. Emirates currently uses
the slogan Fly Better.
Emirates introduced a new design in August 2008 for its 16,000 uniformed
staff, designed by Simon Jersey. The offboard uniform includes the Emirates
hat, red kick-pleats in the skirts, more fitted blouses and the return of red
leather shoes and handbags. For the onboard uniform, male and female cabin
crew wear service waistcoats in place of the previously worn service jackets
and tabards. The male flight attendants wear a chocolate brown suit,
featuring pinstripes, with a cream shirt and a caramel, honey and red tie. Both
male and female pursers wear this chocolate brown color, but with no red
featured.
Since its formation in 1985, though to a limited extent until all aircraft were
repainted, Emirates aeroplanes carried a section of the United Arab
Emirates flag on the tail fins, a calligraphy of the logo in Arabic on the engines
and the "Emirates" logo on the fuselage both in Arabic and English. The
colour scheme used since 1985 was changed in November 1999 to the one still
in use today. This change saw the modification of logotype, the enlargement
and move of the English logo (the Arabic remaining smaller) towards the
front of the aircraft and a different, flowing flag on the tail-fin.
Corporate management
The airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which itself is a subsidiary
of the Dubai government's investment company, Investment Corporation of
Dubai. The airline has recorded a profit every year, except the second year,
and the growth has never fallen below 20% a year. In its first 11 years, it
doubled in size every 3.5 years, and has every four years since.
In 2015 Emirates paid dividends worth AED2.6 billion (US$708 million),
compared to AED1 billion (US$272 million) in 2014. The government has
received Dhs14.6 billion from Emirates since dividends started being paid in
1999 for having provided an initial start-up capital of US$10 million and an
additional investment of about US$80 million at the time of the airline's
inception. The Dubai government is the sole owner of the company. However,
it does not put any new money into it, nor does it interfere with running the
airline
Fleet efficiency
• Emirates has stated that its versions of the A380-800 will offer fuel
economy of 3.1 litres per 100 passenger km.
• The company uses a program called "Flextracks". The technology is
used to plan and optimize routes efficiency and load factor. Passenger
load factors were 81.2% in the 6 months to September 2010.
• Emirates has invested in a program called "tailored arrivals". This
allows air traffic control to uplink to aircraft en route. It first determines
the speed and flight profile from the air onto the runway, this allows the
crew to accept and fly a continuous descent profile, saving fuel and
emissions.
Emirates SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Emirates' major strength is its location: from its central hub at Dubai airport,
the vast majority of the world's population could be reached within a single
flight, making the region an excellent transition point for long-haul travellers,
which contributed to Emirates phenomenal growth since its foundation.
Emirates has also built a globally recognisable powerful brand and has
diversified into various related segments of the air travel industry (such as
catering, maintenance, ground handling) that reduce the airline's dependence
on third-party service providers. Emirates has an extensive route network
across six continents served by a continuously growing fleet of modern
aircraft that offer many international passengers a high quality and
convenient transportation solution. Although Emirates does not receive any
financial aid from the Dubai government, as the government controls the
majority of the shares, the airline may enjoy an increased bargaining power
(and financial flexibility) when negotiating flying rights on international
routes.
Weaknesses
Recent commentaries published about Emirates' declining revenues may
reveal some of the hidden weaknesses of the organisation. One presumed
weakness is Emirates' overly ambitious and unsustainable future growth plan
(shown by a large number of aircraft ordered). Further to this, Emirates
predominantly focused solely on the premium travel segment, which might be
consistent with older generations' expectations, however, it is uncertain if and
how Emirates could market itself to Millennials (without contradicting its
brand values) with an insatiable demand for convenient (instead of luxurious)
travel at an affordable rate (more on this is discussed under the 'threats'
section).
Opportunities
Emirates' strategy to focus on the premium travel segment has proven to be a
successful decision, however, changes in its business environment (increasing
competition from low-cost long-haul airlines suitable for Millennial travellers'
expectations) also create opportunities. Considering the fact that Emirates
has never suffered a shortage of resources to grow, launching a subsidiary
airline with a low-cost business model could be an opportunity worth
exploring. In addition, Emirates could expand under its fifth freedom rights
in Europe by connecting European cities with destinations currently
underserved by local airlines (so in a sense, this would allow Emirates to
establish smaller hubs outside Dubai and to deploy new aircraft). Emirates
currently operates two flight pairs under this freedom (Athens-Newark and
Milan-New York), however, exploring other route pairs to exploit fifth
freedom rights could be a valuable opportunity to utilise a large amount of
aircraft to be delivered to Emirates in the next five years.
Threats
Emirates has never enjoyed a favourable relationship with European and
American airlines – these companies frequently accuse Emirates of receiving
government subsidies (providing Emirates with an unfair competitive
advantage) which are an illegal practice in the US and in the EU. In case
airlines' lobbying activities will be successful, Emirates may need to face
restrictions on its European and North American routes. While the UAE is by
no means an area frequented by extremist terrorist groups, Emirates serves
many countries which have been identified as potential security concerns by
the Trump administration. The new security procedures (i.e. the travel ban)
implemented for the US bound flights so far had negative repercussions for
Emirates, which forced the airline to reduce its flight frequency to the US
(whether or not this was a political or a security measure is debated, yet the
adverse effects are apparent for Emirates). Finally, Emirates is increasingly
threatened by the emergence of long-haul low-cost airlines (such as
Norwegian Air, AirAsiaX or Wow Air), which will further increase
competition on long-haul routes. So far, it is the Asian region where long-haul
low-cost airlines are enjoying a rapid growth, however, European full-service
airlines have been investigating the feasibility of launching a low-cost long-
haul subsidiary to benefit from this high-potential market.
