There are probably a few too many entry barriers to start up your own international airline, though if you wanted to, following Emirates’ lead is probably a good way to go. It stands as one of the largest and most profitable airlines in history. But how exactly did they pull it off?
For 2018-19, Emirates posted a profit of AED 2.3 billion (US$ 631 million) for the year, with an equally impressive revenue of AED 109.3 billion (US$ 29.8 billion), an increase of 7% over last year’s results.
First up is the ‘Emirates business model’ which is so good it got its own name. The model relies on getting a hardworking workforce and putting them and all the passengers in a low cost carrier like an A380.
According to a report from The Economist back in 2005, Emirates had a ‘cost per seat’ figure ‘lower’ than that of easyJet, a self proclaimed budget airline.
The figure The Economist cites is also thanks to Emirates’ ‘flat-organsational structure’, what this means is that there are fewer positions between workers and executives.
As And Other Detours points out, a major part of Emirates’ success is all down to its hub country – Dubai.
Another big plus for Emirates, is that the Middle Eastern city of Dubai is, well, in the middle of the world. Dubai serves as a great spot for loads of connecting flights, and, a lot of people end up using the airline no matter where they go.
The company also has a fleet that is always expanding, going up 11% year on year, it has around 250+ planes to pick from and an exhaustive list of destinations to boot according to The First Group.
There’s around 150 different places you can land with Emirates, a list that continuously grows and diversifies. Every city the average person could name is probably in the Emirates route, along with a bunch of cities you’ve not heard of.
The airline “exponentially expands the flight combinations between cities that it can offer its customers”, while simultaneously bringing more visitors through and to Dubai, says Emirates Group chairman, His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum according to The First Group. Just this year the airline is soon starting flights to Mexico City.
The Economist attributes the popularity of Emirates to its low staff cost, low fleet cost, great location, and multitude of routes.
