Emirates is perhaps the only airline in the world whose
fleet of airplanes is made wholly of the wide-bodied airplanes. Unlike its
American and European counterparts, the Emirates does not use different types
of airplanes in its fleet. This has been the prime strategic point in the
Emirates plans ever since it incorporated the first wide-bodied A380 in its
fleet. These planes have definitely helped the airline in the evolution of its
strategy of flying long-haul and also of beating the competition from European
and American Airlines on the profitable routes from Asia-Pacific.
The A380s have been the strategic stratagem. In fact, of all
the A380 orders worldwide, more than 50% are owned by Emirates. And, among its
own fleet, these take a whopping 40% share, the rest being attributable to
Boeing planes. There are some very obvious benefits of using these. The first
is that it has served the strategic purpose of limiting the role of American
and European carrier on long-haul routes. Secondly, there are savings to be
made in maintenance costs of the airplanes as compared with those carriers
whose fleet uses a mix of different airplanes. Thirdly, these have been able to
attain a higher customer satisfaction level and have emerged as frontline
companies in global aviation.
However, being large airplanes with more seats, there is a
need to get more bookings per flight. For this reason, the airline, operating
in a competitive environment, hinges on deals and discounts on Emirates reservations in order to get
those bookings. Further, while long-haul strategy has secured the place in
global aviation, many other profitable short-haul sectors of flights have been
ignored. In order to gain ground there and still earn profits, it has to switch
to single-aisle airplanes of shorter dimensions.
There is a consideration going in the Emirates circles that
the company might be willing to cancel 20 orders of A380 and to order for the
smaller version A350 or Boeing 787.
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