Emirates goes for brand

It is not often that you get the opportunity of having a chat with a very senior Vice President from what is becoming one of the worlds’ fastest growing airlines and not only that with a glass of champagne in hand and in the salubrious setting of the Emirates Marquee at Flemington….. and of course, the Emirates Melbourne Cup……..its a tough life!

Richard, Senior Vice President Commercial Operations East Asia and Australasia for Emirates [pictured right] told The Mole, “At Emirates, we are a firm believer in brand and events like the Emirates Melbourne Cup are a really great vehicle for getting our message across.” 

He added, “We have just run a survey of our frequent flyers and the number one thing that came out was that sports and culture sponsorship were major factors for them in our brand recognition and they liked what we were doing in that field.”

“We are not only a major sponsor of this event, but also Collingwood Football Club and in culture, the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras and back in sport we are sponsoring the Australian PGA for the first time.”

“Arsenal Football Club in the UK is one of our biggest sponsorship and when they play, for example Manchester in the FIFA cup games, we know that in India and China alone a million people are watching it, with Fly Emirates emblazoned across the Arsenal player strips” 

“We have also had major front page news coverage in the UK and that is simply a space you can’t buy.”

“Others spend more hard advertising than we do and that is up to them, but we think and can prove it, that sponsorship in sports and culture is a highly effective manner to build brand and product awareness.”

“The old cliché that the Melbourne Cup is the race that stops the nation gives us great exposure, especially as we have the naming rights as The Emirates Melbourne Cup and this race is now also seen throughout the world.”

With the glass empty and another on the way, The Mole thought it was time to talk aviation, asking Richard what were the biggest challenges facing Emirates and in particular in this market.

Richard said, “One of the critical issues for us is getting enough capacity, which we do not have, with all our flights to and from Australia and New Zealand operating at very high loads and also yields”.

“So ordering more aircraft is critical to us and getting them delivered and I can’t say more about that and capacity at the moment, but Sheik Ahmed and Tim Clark will be here in Australia in two weeks time for the celebrations related to the start of work at our new resort in Wolgan Valley in the Blue Mountains and I anticipate they will be they will be making some comments about all this at the time.”

“We put proposals for additional flights and while we didn’t get everything we wanted Mark Vaile has given us fair hearing.”  “We have permission to operate more services, but currently, we do not have the aircraft, with 24 aircraft to be delivered in the next 18 months.”

“To put the A380 delay, which we have had to work around, in context, when the first one is delivered to us in August next year the timing should have been the delivery of the 18^th!” 

He added, “I can confirm that the A380 will figure in our Australia plans to both Sydney and Melbourne.”  “As of today though, we have made no decisions on the Dreamliner or the A350.”

“We are struggling to get the seats, that is the aircraft to operate on the routes we want to.” 

“We currently have 49 flights a week to Aus and permission to go to 84, with the other 35 structured to come in over a number of years.”  “The permission is no more than three per city and this year can’t be Sydney, but we have double daily to Perth, Sydney and Melbourne and daily to Brisbane, but it is conceivable that Sheik Ahmed and Tim Clark might well make some announcements in this regard and about capacity, at the Wolgan Valley launch or at least when they are in Australis for that.

“There is no doubt that the Middle East is growing but out of Europe Australia is huge and one of the pluses we offer and many people do not realise, is that we now operate form 23 points right across Europe.”  “For example our new Newcastle service is doing very well indeed, and very popular with locals in that part of the world wishing to travel to Australia, meaning they do not have to transit through Heathrow, which let’s face it is a terrible transit and that has been made more difficult by the very strict, but of course justifiable security checks and controls.”

Asked about the changing face of the kangaroo route with more and more passengers transiting Dubai and other Middle Eastern ports, he said, “Yes, we are changing the face of the traditional kangaroo route with a Middle East transit or stopover becoming a great alternative to the traditional kangaroo route, but we also believe that there is plenty of business for everyone.”

The Mole asked if the financial pockets to support Emirates were bottomless, to which Richard replied, “Our figures are published and audited by PwC, so they are the real thing.”  “Have no illusions, we are a very well run business indeed and I am definitely expected to make money, so even though we are owned by the Government of Dubai, they are most certainly not a bottomless financial pit and we run very commercially.”   “People can judge for themselves with our results out Thursday and they will be worth seeing.

“The bottom line for us is that we want to be competitive and make money and is not just about air fares but also the ground arrangements and it has not been easy, as we have to deal with rocketing fuel costs like all other airlines.” 

“We are very strong though and will continue to grow and succeed, with Australia and New Zealand vitally important to us.”

Thank you Tim…..now then about that next glass of bubbly…….oh and a canape or two perhaps…….you can’t take these Moles anywhere these days!!

A Special on location report by The Mole from the Emirates Melbourne Cup and the Emirates Marquee at Flemington