About Emirates Airline

An Airline with a Remarkable History

An airline that has regularly been rated as the top organization in the aviation sector globally over the years must possess something amazing and unique. Emirates Airline takes pleasure in being one of the biggest airlines in the world and is acknowledged as a true global leader, an accomplishment made possible by the company’s incredible rate of expansion and development within a very brief period of time. The Emirates Group, the biggest airline in the Middle East with operations in more than 80 nations, includes Emirates, a Dubai-based airline. While the airline has been consistent in its performance and service delivery, it is of paramount importance to learn more about its history and how the company has gradually grown to the global giant it is today. In this light, this paper explores and analyses the global airline’s history and its organisational structure.

History of the Emirates Airline

The airline carrier was established in 1985, barely 32 years ago with just two aircrafts flying out of Dubai at that particular time (Emirates Group 2012, p.14). Emirates Group (2012) points out that the carrier started with a capital aid of about $10 million from the government of Dubai and to supplement on its two acquired aircrafts, it would hire airplanes from Pakistan (p.17). Through its first few years of operation, Emirates Airline struggled to create a brand name for itself. Good returns from its operations were not forthcoming but later in the years, the small company then started expanding and capturing new lands in the international markets, taking out its services to Southeast Asia and Egypt. In 1987, the carrier started making regular flights to London and in other destinations internationally as well (Emirates Group 2016, p.22). By the time the company was a decade old; it was consistently receiving good returns in terms of the profit margins and recorded a detailed positive growth rate of about 29%.

Global Expansion and Success

With this kind of remarkable growth, the airline was able to acquire a competitive edge in the global aviation industry. Presently, the carrier runs services to over 145 destinations across the world. The business enterprise is renowned for its implausible services and customer satisfaction and through this; the carrier has grown into the biggest airline in the Middle East and one of the most important airlines globally.

Organizational Structure of Emirates Airline

Nature of the Organisation

Albers & Baum (2017), assert that for an organisation to carry out its functions effectively, it has to establish and draw a clear organizational structure, which defines the nature of an organisation (p.79). Emirates Airline has a hierarchical structure which has the chairman of the company at the top of the organisation’s hierarchical pyramid. Other organisational positions evident in the company’s hierarchy are the vice presidents, executive secretaries, divisional vice presidents, regional managers, area managers and departmental heads. His Highness, Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed is the chairman of the business enterprise with the president of the company being Sir Tim Clark (Emirates Group 2016, p.25).

The organisation has a workforce base of over 70,000 personnel who are all recruited from across the globe, ensuring that the organisation is non-discriminative to no race or nationality. Recruitment of people from different parts of the world displays equality, parity and equal employment opportunities on the part of the corporation. It is also noteworthy to acknowledge that the global carrier exhibits a hierarchical and bureaucratic nature as the structure of the organisation is mechanical and formal with numerous divisions that explain the roles of the different levels of employees (Mantur 2015, p.44). The organisational structure at the global carrier is also characterized by a vertical form of engagement between the top management and the subordinate staff, maintaining a formal chain of communication. In this case, the subordinate staff and the superior management relations are highly upheld.

According to Albers & Baum (2017), a bureaucratic structure has clear descriptions of the duties as well as the job description that each worker is expected to handle (89). However, Emirates Airline has not adopted a stringent bureaucracy system and is receptive to changes that are dominant in the aviation industry since the industry is very dynamic and for an organization to remain relevant in the industry, it has to embrace the numerous changes in the industry. The aviation company is also well known for effectively managing its operations and has embraced vertical integration into its core business structure by incorporating diversified properties. The corporation hence operates its check-in, service desks, boarding and lounge services, baggage and handling and airport push backs (Emirates Group 2016, p.32).

Additionally, Emirates has a clearly defined development path. This ensures that all its employees have equal opportunities for promotion and individual growth based on the testimonials that one has (Al-Sayeh 2014, p.54). The business enterprise also has its own distinct culture that is constantly under modifications so as to be able to accommodate the changes present in the industry and improve over time. Continuous organisational learning is also a value at the organisation.

Conclusion

With its vision of being a global leader in the aviation industry, protecting the environment as well as being the best airline in the world with a significant global network while striving to uphold the core values of customer satisfaction, high service quality, professionalism and teamwork, the airline has no doubt made tremendous achievements in the aviation industry.

References

Albers, S., & Baum, H. (2017). Strategic Management in the Aviation Industry. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.

Al-Sayeh, K. (2014). The Rise of the Emerging Middle East Carriers:. Journal of Science in Transportation, pp. 1-167.

Emirates Group. (2012). Balancing our Performance. Retrieved 10 14, 2017, from Emiratesgroup: https://www.emirates.com/english/images/2011_12%20Emirates%20Environment%20Report%20secured_tcm233-888462.pdf

Emirates Group. (2016). The Emirates Group Annual Report ǀ 2016-17. Retrieved 10 14, 2017, from THE EMIRATES GROUP: https://cdn.ek.aero/downloads/ek/pdfs/report/annual_report_2017.pdf

Mantur, N. (2015). The Emirates: Airline Company or a global lifestyle brand? Journal of Strategic Marketing, pp.1-75.