Logistics/Supply Chain Customer Service of Emirates Airlines

Presented By Ajay P Appukuttan (3966744) Irfan Contractor (3768673) Shaheen Ahmed (4459520) Nazeem(4315844) Ahmed Said Alsarihi(4205170)

Under the guidance of DR. SLIM SAIDI

SUBJECT: Logistics Systems Management (TBS 928)

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................... Error! Bookmark not defined. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................... 4 EMIRATES A COMPANY OVERVIEW ......................................................... 5 DYNAMICS OF AVIATION INDUSTRY..................................................... 6 ISSUES IN AVIATION INDUSTRY .......................................................... 6 PORTERS & SWOT ANALYSIS .............................................................. 6 EMIRATES CUSTOMER SERVICE PLANS ................................................ 8 DNATA AIRPORT SERVICES ............................................................... 10 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................... 14 CONCLUSION ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. REFERENCES ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The report speaks about the Aviation giant, Emirates Airlines based at Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company being a service oriented industry and rather no tangible product flow, the report first showed not adhering to the subject, Logistics Customer Service. However, as Emirates thrives and are well known for their customer service, we had great opportunity presenting the topic well suiting Emirates. The report starts with an Introduction, it speaks a little about the company and its overview, the Dynamics of Aviation industry as a total and Issues in Aviation Industry. We can find a detailed analysis using SWOT and Porters Five rules. Service quality requirements are also detailed. The report provides the core of topic at Emirates Airlines Service Plan. Here we get a brief description of how the service plan helps Emirates excel in its customer service and become the number three airline in world. Dnata offers a great deal of customer service to Emirates customer, so their operations are described too. As with any company, Emirates also calls for a room for improvement, so there are many Recommendations this report provides to its readers. The report ends with a suiting Conclusion for the topic.

INTRODUCTION
The recent years has seen major shifts in global airline business and passenger movement. The Middle East carriers, particularly the airlines of Arabian Gulf have showcased exemplary methods of routing the traffic and get saturated at all parts of world. The growth in passenger movements in Middle East, measured in RPKS were 7% for the year of 2008, approximately 4 times that of global averages. The most responsible players for these big figures are those carriers based in Gulf, who were successful in capitalizing the geographically centric benefit of them. They cannibalized the traditional flows of traffics between European and Asian hub, started connecting the cities in secondary list, utilizing their rights of Sixth Freedom Traffic. The estimates show that more than 4.6 billion populations are residing within an 8 hour flight span from Middle East, which provides a great scope and potential for a huge part of world population to be connected via a single hub, like the same way Emirates operates. Emirates Airlines is the most dominant in the region, whereby Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways combine makes upto only 70% of that of Emirates. As for the 12 months ending April 2011, Dubai ranked the fifth in International passenger per year (47.62 Million) and the first in its ranking for Number of International Carriers handled, which was 150 numbers. (Source: ACI and ATI passenger numbers for 12 months ending April 2011)

Emirates A company overview

The largest airline in the Middle East, Emirates operates more than 2400 flights every week. It is based at Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The airline is fully owned by the Government of Dubai and it operates completely tax free with no legacy costs. (John F. OConnell) It has a hub-spoke system, where the hub is at Dubai Terminal 3 and destinations to 116 cities within 68 countries all across 6 continents. Emirates as of now is one of the best brands in aviation business all over the world, especially in the areas of excellence in customer service, robust growth figures, and consistent profit making for last 7 years. Emirates was voted as the 8th best airline in the world. The diversified businesses of Emirates include Airport Services, Engineering, Hospitality, Catering, and Tour Operation. Emirates airlines has 7 subsidiary companies while the parent company, the Emirates Group has more than 50 subsidiaries. Emirates employs more than 38000 staff as per figures of 2011 fiscal year. Emirates puts its primary focus on delivering superior service for customers. It ranks among the top 10 in terms of amount of revenue per passenger kilometer (RPK). It is currently the largest airline in Middle East in terms of fleet size, revenue, number of passengers. It had one of the highest operating margins of full service airlines, earning 11.6% in 2007/08 (Emirates Financial Statistics, 2007/08). Emirates employs Hub and Spoke system, which provides a number of cities linked to the central hub, while each extra spoke has potential to magnify the benefits of linkage and that of through services. Hub and Spoke mechanism usually consolidates short haul traffic in to long haul operations. Anyhow emirates has the core competency of having long haul to long haul traffic flows between Asia, Europe, India & Australia through its Dubai hub.(John F. OConnell).

Dynamics of Aviation Industry

Very few inventions have altered the way in which people perceive and experience the world, as much as the invention of the AIRCRAFT. As time passed, the huge demand of aircraft from government during times of war, lead to a vast improvement in the way aircraft were being developed and manufactured. The very first commercial airline routes were introduced at the end of the World War 2. Air travel has become such an integral part of everyones life that we cannot imagine life without it. Aviation has progressed so much that it has shortened the time to travel and has eradicated the concept of distance and reach. IT has also changed how business is conducted, enabling people to reach any part of the world in a short amount of time. However, the airline industry exists in a cut throat market where competition is intense. Nowadays airlines are owned privately as compared to the past, where airlines used to be owned and operated by government. According to the United State Department of Transport, the airline industry can be categorized into four divisions:
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1. International Airlines: Planes which seat more than 130 people and are capable of taking people anywhere around the world. Such airlines also have annual revenue of 1 billion dollars. 2. National Airline: annual revenue between 100 million - 1 billion dollars. 3. Regional Airline: Short Haul flights are the main focus. Revenues are less than 100 million dollars. 4. Cargo Airlines: Such airlines typically transport goods.

Issues in the aviation industry

1. Weather: being very unpredictable, adverse weather conditions might shut down airports; cancel flights by which airlines lose money. 2. Fuel Cost: The second largest cost to an airline is FUEL, according to Air Transport Association. Efficiency can also vary between short haul and long haul airlines, due to the fact that a short haul airline would make numerous take offs and landings as compared to long haul airlines. 3. Labor: Air Transport Association says that labor is the number one cost for an airline, as they have to pay flight crew, ground staff etc. 4. Other issues include capacity at airports, scheduling and routes, leasing or buying aircraft etc.

Porter's Analysis on Aviation Industry

1. Threat of New Entrants: It is not an easy industry to break into, since the capital involved is very high. Moreover, there are giants like Emirates, Singapore Airlines, KLM, American Airlines it is difficult for new entrants to set their base.

2. Power of Suppliers: Boeing and Airbus are the two main suppliers in the aviation industry. There is a significant amount of competition between the two giants. Furthermore, a chance of seeing these players vertically integrating is also very bleak. For example, none of these two companies are going to provide flight service instead of manufacturing aircraft.
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3. Power of Buyers: The bargaining power of airlines is very insignificant, due to the fact that there is limited choice. 4. Availability of substitutes: in case of regional airlines, people do have a choice o drive or take the train. However when you consider cross continental travel, there wouldnt be an alternative to air travel. 5. Rivalry: There is significant amount of rivalry as there are allot of airlines operating.

SWOT Analysis
1. Strengths: Emirates was formed in 1985 from scratch, its got a very flat hierarchical structure, which ensures smooth flow on information and leads to effective decisions. Secondly since it is based in Dubai, it is exempted from various fees, since it is government owned. Emirates, just like any other company benefits from the fact that there is no direct Tax system. Furthermore, Dubai's immigration laws are pretty generous, which allows many nationalities to work in Dubai. Finally, Emirates is an award winning Service Company and has won the Best Airline of The world quite a few times (Alexander,).

2. Weaknesses: It is really difficult to find any weakness when it comes to an airline such as Emirates. There have been dissatisfied customers, however most of the customers travelling with emirates are happy with the service.

3.

Opportunities: the strategic location of Dubai is one of the biggest opportunities that Emirates has. There are approximately 3.6 billion people living within 8 hours of flight. Dubai is located at the center of some of the major cargo and passenger routes. Furthermore, the advanced fleet of Emirates allows the airline to provide nonstop flights to every continent with high capacity using aircrafts like the A380 (Alexander,).
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4. Threats: One of the threats that Emirates could face is the political instability in the Middle Eastern countries. However the leaders of the country have done their part to keep this beautiful country safe and sound.

Airline Service Quality

To measure service quality is a difficult task, which involves knowing what customer wants. This judgment varies and is dependent on intangible elements. There have been numerous surveys which sheds light on some of the concerns air travelers have. Below are the results from a survey that was done with 3200 people, who were asked about their preferences:

1. Legroom: twenty five percent of travelers said that they were uncomfortable due to les legroom. Their suggestion to airlines is that they should provide much roomier seats. 2. Fees: Another twenty five percent of the people considered a hike in travel fees to be their worst nightmare. Airlines have been charging for petty things like headphones, meals, which typically should be provided without extra charges. 3. Size Issues: seventy four percent of the people reckon that big people should be required to purchase tickets for two seats for the flight. 4. Wifi: thirty percent of the people who took the survey told that they would prefer to book a flight which provided access to wifi, than one which didnt have wifi service. Most of the respondents also said that they wouldnt want to pay for access to wifi and that it should be free.

5. Full body scanners: Having full body scanners that allow seeing through clothes is an issue, and might not be a good idea in conservative countries.

EMIRATES AIRLINES CUSTOMER SERVICE PLAN

1. OFFERING THE LOWEST FARE AVAILABLE

Emirates airlines offer the lowest available fare for which a customer is eligible for. It depends on the flight, date and class of service which are requested by the customer. Reservation can be done through airport ticket counters, city ticket offices and telephone reservation system.

2. GIVES UPDATED INFORMATION ABOUT THE FLIGHTS There will be flight delays, diversions or cancellations of flights which arise from bad weather, air traffic control, operational or service considerations. In these situation emirates gives the most current, accurate information about the flight status. It gives the information to flight crew and ground staff about the flight cancellations and delays. Updated information about the flight status will be displayed at airport gates and in the emirates website. It will also mention the reason for flight cancellations or delays. If a customer provide the exact contact information, emirates will inform the customer about the cancellations when the event is known at least three hours before departure.

3. ALLOWS PROMPT TICKET REFUNDS Emirates allow the customer to get prompt refunds for eligible tickets when a request is given with required documentation. Any ticket which a customer has paid for but not used will
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be refunded when the ticket or electronic ticket reference number is presented at the local emirates office. If the ticket was bought online, refund request can be made through online e-ticket booking by filling the online refund request form. Refund are issued in accordance with fare condition 4. PURCHASED TICKETED RESERVATION CAN BE CANCELLED FOR A CERTAIN PERIOD

Emirates allows Ticketed reservation to be cancelled without penalty. Full refund is made when the reservation is cancelled within 24 hours of purchase and the reservation is made one week or more prior to a flights departure.

5. PASSENGERS ARE FAIRLY TREATED WHEN OVERSALES HAPPENS

There will be situation where confirmed reservation ticket holder will not get a seat on a flight. This is because of over sales of ticket. In this case, a passenger will not be denied a seat until the emirates search for volunteers willing to give up their confirmed seats. Those passengers who give up their seats will get compensation and will be allowed to travel later by another flight. If there are no volunteers to give up their seats, emirates will deny boarding to passengers in accordance with emirates boarding priority policy. If a passenger is denied boarding, who already have compiled with the check- in and other applicable rules, emirates will explain the passenger about the boarding priority for an oversold flight and makes them eligible for compensation and transportation on an alternate flight.

6. PROVIDE TIME DELIVERY OF BAGGAGE

Emirates make all possible efforts to deliver the baggage on time to passenger. If the checked bags are misplaced or delayed, emirates will ensure that bags are reached to you within 24 hours. A slight longer delay may occur when a journey involves another carrier or

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carriers. If a passenger incurs expenses because of baggage delay, emirates will compensate for those reasonable expenses when the purchase receipts are produced.

7. PROPER CARE TO PASSENGERS WITH DISABILITIES In emirates airline, Passengers with disabilities gets a comfortable and safe journey. Passengers should mention in the time of booking that whether any special assistance is required before, during or after the flight. Emirates have Tarmac delay contingency plan, where employees will properly accommodate passengers with disabilities. Newly emirates have developed an unaccompanied minors service where children are travelling without adults are taken care. It gives a smooth and stress free journey to a child who travel alone. Unaccompanied minors are children are children above 5 and under 12 years.

8. ENSURES ESSENTIAL CUSTOMER NEEDS DURING EXTRAORDINARY DELAYS Sometimes there will be delays in flight because of weather, air traffic and safety considerations. In this situation, emirates will ensure that the essential needs of the passengers are met. They provide food and drinking water, gives medical assistance to the passengers. Emirates are committed to maintain a reliable schedule for its passengers.

9. PROVIDE INFORMATION REGARDING ITS POLICIES AND RULES All the information about the policies and service details are clear in the emirates website. Emirates have its own representatives at the airport to help the passengers if they are not aware of the policies and service details. Passengers can get clear aircraft configuration, can know the cancellation and refund policies and terms and conditions of the ticket and travel.

10. POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARDS CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS Emirates airlines always welcome customer complaints. Written complaints can be given at the airports were emirates serves and information regarding where to direct the complaints is in the website. Passenger will get a substantive response within 60 days of receiving written complaint.
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11. CODESHARE AGREEMENTS Emirates airlines encourage good customer service from code share partners. Presently emirates have code share agreements with Air china, Air Malta, man air, Korean air, Japan airlines, and jet airways.

Dnata Airport Services

The operations of dnata are mainly rendered by the agents at the international airport of Dubai and about more than 6,500 employers has played a vital role in the development of Dubai international airport .And also they ranked the 4th main airport in the world and the 5th busiest of the international cargo. However the passenger section and the cargo traffic section in the airport continues with high growth. Thats why Dnata decided to control the traffic of cargo and the heavy rush of passengers. So in 2009/10 Dnata controlled more than 1.9 millions of cargo and 42 million passengers for the 135 customer airlines satisfaction. Dnata started in 2009 with a full restructure and their goal is to be the best ground controller in the world. And moreover Dnata enabled Airport operations to improving both profitability and productivity through their service. 1. Dnata Airline Services:Customer services:Dnatas customer services played an important lead role in customer care at the airport and it is very crucial in the functions of Dnata ground handling or controlling options. About more than 1200 professionals are assisted to the handling of passengers from check into boarding and from disembarkation of baggage collection of the passengers also their main aim of the Dnata is to gave high quality customer service. In the customer service there is some other services rendered by the customers they are:-

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Check-in service: - This service is for check-in systems as DMACS, enabling the efficient and very accurate check in for the passengers together with high class customer service. Transfer service: - Dnata provided services for the transfer desk and air side for all terminals to helping the transfer passengers to assure the maintenance of on time departures for the all flights that means 24 hour service. Special Service: - It means they assist their personnel staffs for offer the assistance for the special needs of the passenger such as unaccompanied minors and (PRMs) passengers with reduced mobility. Baggage service:-This service is for the transit passengers who want to keep their bags while in transit. Ramp Services-Meeting and exceeding customer requirements: Aircraft loading: - it means the loading and unloading of all types of aircraft and also the transportation of baggage, mail and cargo to the form of aircraft. ULD logistics: - it provides the provision and management of all loading inventories. Technical Support: - it provides the support of many technical types of equipment to support of aircraft pushback, ground power, A/C, water service, Toilet, pneumatic air start and aircraft mechanics. Aircraft Appearance: - Exterior aircraft appearance and cabin cleaning services. Operations of Dnata:Their operations are very safe and secure and main thing is the on-time co ordination of aircraft movements by the dnata operation staffs. Moreover they are responsible for the maintaining the departure and arrival of our customers and their activities. In Dubai there is a centre to maintain those schedules and activities of the customers called (DOCC) Dnata operation control centre. Baggage services:-

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It is for ensuring the safety and on time handling of passenger baggage. In Dubai international airport they provide 2000 more baggage service staffs for all airlines to provide the better service for the passengers.

2. Business Support:Dnatas Quality culture:The main aspects of Dnata airport operations are safety and quality. Dnatas safety and quality is emphatic in the numerous powers received over the years. Dnata Training:The training was started as a ramp safety briefing to improve awareness about the prevention and safety of accidents. The training is established in 1991. Now it is stand as one of the leading ground handling trainers in the world. They providing the internal and external clients involving the Dnatas airport operations, Cargo, Emirates engineering, Trans guard, Presidential flight Abudhabi, Dnata cargo operations, Dubai international airport, Royal flight Oman, Jet aviation Dubai, Maxcare and overseas dnata joint ventures. They provide many specialized courses for the aircraft servicing, ground handling, aircraft cargo, aircraft appearance, ware house equipment, ramp training, dispatch training, English language skills and basic driving skills .All courses are connected with the IATA and base marked against the ISAGO standards. Training offers a centre for learning with many facilities and equipments for the classroom and other decided areas as well. Business improvement service and resource planning:In order to maintain the services preferred, the clients can access business improvement and resource planning. They provide specialized solutions and productivity demands. The resource planning services are as follows: Developing annual resource planning.
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drive for

Update and Maintain engagement standards utilized for resource calculations in consultation with line departments. Improve master roster plans, tailored specifically to operational requirements of a business, for implementation of the customers. Control budgeting process for yearly man power requirements.

The Business improvement services are as follows: Review and reduce the business processes, variation and wastage. Maintain and develop a comprehensive business performance reviewing program. For the implementation of it system they implement a strong governance model. They assist the line departments in different projects as needed.

3. Commercial and Business Development:In the commercial and business development there is a management for approaching the customer care and for their satisfaction that is regional account management. For managing the Dnata airport operations management where there is a senior member is dedicated to customer airlines as the regional account management team. The initiative assures the continuous development in complete handling standards by encouraging feedback and dialogue from customers on service available.

Marhaba Services: Marhaba service is established in 1991, it is the service provided by Dubai international airport as a premium as Meet and Assist For the all passengers of both arrivals and departing classes of travel. Marhaba services include many services like meet and greet for individual, family and VIPs, Diamond services, Family package, personalized service, Transfer service, City stop service, Marhaba lounge, Visa service and Porter age services.

4. Ground Support Equipment Service (GSE):This department is for the maintenance and repairing for all vehicles and ground service equipment rendered by the Dnata airport operations.GSE maintain vehicles and equipments containing dnata cargo operations, emirates flight catering, emirates engineering, Baggage
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handling system and emirates airport services. Moreover the other responsibility of this section is the assembly and repairing of Unit Load Device (ULD) of emirates airlines.

5. Dubai world Central Airport:Its simply named as Al Maktoum International Airport its a part of Dnata airport operations offering ground handling services which is opened in June 2010 for the cargo operations. After the completion Al-maktoum international airport will be the largest airport in the world with the specialty of 5 runways, 4 terminal buildings and the capability of 5 million passengers and 12 million tons of cargo.

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RECOMMENDATIONS
The below are some recommendations for Emirates, which they can adhere to by avoiding the following mistakes: 1. Not updating Customers: Problems and delays do happen. An airline must never keep the passengers in the dark as it is a nuisance waiting without knowledge of the situation. 2. Excuses that are lame: Being honest is the right thing to do. Informing the passengers with the truth is far better than giving them lame excuses. 3. Neglect the needs of customers: A business that doesnt understand the needs of the customers can never be successful. 4. Neglect your social channels: in todays world, every company has a social media profile, just to reach out to its customers better. However, it can have negative impact as well. One dissatisfied customer can take numerous other customers away from your business. 5. Too much automation can be bad: Using technology for things that would be better handled by humans is an issue. Some people might not be tech savvy; others might not want to be served by robots. Thus some kind of human intervention is important. 6. Dont offer remedies: Advising an angry customer is like asking a raging b ull to ram you. 7. Failure to rectify the situation: when an issue arises, the business must be more attentive and striving to rectify the problem.

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CONCLUSION
Every firm must revise its performance and find solutions to the obstacles that hinder the best achievement of their strategies. Fly Emirates is considered to be one of the excellent airlines service providers in 2010. It was chosen amongst the seven largest airliners in the globe. In order to reach an exceptional performance they tried to include generic, intensive and diversification strategies in their overall strategy. That leads fly Emirates to provide a high quality service and become the first introducer to new products in airline service industry. The future of Fly Emirates is really promising since it enjoys some great advantages when its competitors will never enjoy. The first one it is financed and subsidized from the wealthy Dubai government which guarantees to never let it down because it is considered to be one of the crowns jewels. That great support makes Fly Emirates go forward in its expansion projects with no fear of any possible crisis in the future like what happened in the last debt crisis when most companies postponed their plans due to the need to reduce the expansion. Add to that, fly emirates is a strategic customer to Boeing and Airbus due the large orders that enhance their sales.

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REFERENCES
Andreas, K. & Alexander, E.. (). How Sustainable is Emirates Business Model. Available: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70066478/Emirates-Airlines-Swot-Analysis. Last accessed 5th May 2013. Investopedia. (2011). The Industry Handbook: The Airline Industry. Available: http://www.investopedia.com/features/industryhandbook/airline.asp. Last accessed 1st May 2013. ETN. (2010). Survey: What passengers want from airlines. Available: http://www.eturbonews.com/14902/survey-what-passengers-want-airlines. Last accessed 4th May 2013. Vasanthakumar, N. (). A Multivariate Analysis of Airline Service Quality. Available: http://www.nesug.org/Proceedings/nesug97/stat/bhat.pdf. Last accessed 6th May 2013.

http://www.emirates.com/us/english/images/201201240551_EK%20Customer%20Service%20 Plan%2023%20January%202012_tcm272-706834.pdf
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699711000160

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