That’s why Emirate Airlines introduce high quality first class private lounges to attract business travelers. This premium class private suite would be fully outfitted with personal storage, coat cabinet, desk and individual mini bar. Long seat reclines to become fully horizontal couch and the 21” wide screen entertainment over 500 channels. Exceptional level of personal services including a la-carte gourmet cousins and wide-ranging wines provided by specially trained multi-lingual cabin crews are the other value addition for this product.
4. B.4 - Diversification: (Low-cost carrier)
Diversification is a strategy, where business sells new services into new market segments. Diversification is more risky strategy due to limited experience on particular new market areas.
After the success stories of European low cost carriers, Middle East operators also started eyeing to explore new marketing concepts of "Frills-free" fly. The global low cost carrier sector is growing at more than three times the average industry global rate, with just under 50 million seats on 342,000 LCC services offered worldwide in January 2007, up 17% and 15% year-on-year, respectively.
Low cost carriers are airlines that offer lower fares than traditional network airlines by eliminating certain complementary passenger amenities generally offered by traditional airlines. The key opportunity for low cost carrier lies in passenger fare elasticity, low air transport penetration rates and substation of traditional modes of low-cost transport such as trains and buses.
Air Arabia dominates exclusively to this low cost carrier service in UAE, Emirates Airlines must decide how to respond this threat posed to the large expatriate market in UAE. Among the options considered there is scope to introduce low-cost subsidiary of Emirates Airlines.
Emirates Airlines be supposed to diversify slightly from current marketing objectives to acquire low cost air travel market share and to retain its customer base of UAE expatriate market. This can be done launching new subsidiary to cater budget airline market. Key routes should be according to the high demand and large number of expatriate's home country like Egypt, India and Pakistan.
Under the arm of Emirate Airlines, new budget airline subsidiary has to introduce to new Al-Makthoum Inter-national Airport being constructed in Jebel Ali, located on Dubai border. This will provide residents of Dubai and Northern emirates enhanced travel option to neighboring destinations. Emirates Airlines is placing lease order of for 200 aircraft and to be operational by 2009. The carrier is expected to use Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737 on lease basis for the first few years prior to acquiring ownership status.
Similar practices already succeeded the case of Kuwait airways and they implements the strategy of modifying marketing mix by beginning a low-cost carrier called "Al-Jazeera" in order to enhance its passenger base and loyalty and boost in sales.
Business strategy over Ansoff’s growth matrix
Ansoff’s product/market growth matrix provides for a business tends to grow depend on whether it sells new or current services in new or current markets. New products and new markets could relate to current products and current markets or may possibly distant and discrete.
The result from the Ansoff’s product/market matrix is chain of recommended growth strategies that set the road of business strategy.
Figure: - Ansoff’s growth matrix
5 – EVALUATION
After marketing plan is implemented, it should be evaluated. Evaluation entails gauging the extent to which marketing objectives have been achieved during the specified time period. Below table demonstrate effectiveness of marketing strategies and counter-measure to improve/replace current plan.
Improving In-Flight Services