Etihad Airlines: operations, strategy, and market position

Etihad Airlines

Etihad Airways

Company Description

Description of Operations

Supply Chain Decisions

Operational Decisions

Productivity

Company Description:

Etihad Airways is a United Arab Emirates-based business incorporated in 2003 and lead to a successful growth oriented organization within a short span of time. The business mission is to extend Middle Eastern and especially UAE's hospitality to its customer. The business envisions becoming one of the leading airlines in the world through customer service. The business is an airline company that operates its flights to and from Middle East and caters local as well as international destinations including United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. The business offer passenger flights to its offered destinations (Etihad).

Description of Operations:

The business operations includes operating flights for consumer travel catering domestic and international destinations. The business not only operates passenger flights to the destinations but also offers cargo services as its second major category of operations. The other operations include holiday packages and resorts as well as airport services. The business operational input is based on the query or request generated by the travelers, tour operators, and cargo agents. The business processes the request and offers available flights, seats, and caters special request for the customers. Upon purchase of the ticket the payment is processed and seat is reserved for the required flight.

Similarly the cargo bookings are also originated by the cargo agents and customers. The business processes the place availability and charges. After the payment is and the cargo is booked for the relevant flight and it is delivered to the destination. The complete holiday packages offered by the business are also booked through telephone calls, e-mails, and filling in the web-based forms for services request. The services oriented nature of the business has main inputs in the form of a customer request that are processed to provide requested services. The booking of a ticket process is completed after the passenger lands at the desired destination.

Supply Chain Decisions:

Figure: Etihad Airways supply chain.

Source: (Plunkett 303)

Flight Check in Ticket Generated

Seat Reserved

Book Ticket

Luggage Booking

A

rrival at destination

Luggage delivered

End

The decision required by the operations manager with respect to supply chain of the business can be categorized in terms of distribution, suppliers, and customers. The distribution supply chain can be denoted as the access to the system provided to the tour operators and various other ticketing agents to book flights for the passengers. The critical decision in distribution supply chains are the offered commission, level of access to the ticket booking system, and the incentives provided to generate more sales with accurate service provisions.

The second supply chain decisions are related to the supply of fuel, mechanical parts of the aircrafts, management of airport services, and dealing with the labor and airport as well as inflight staff to provide services for the customers. These decisions vary on the basis of their relevance for smooth function of the airline operations. The level of complexity to manage fuel and parts is higher as a number of strategic decisions are also involved in the process. The supply chain of customer services is highly efficient and it requires a corporate, business, and front line level strategy. The customers are offered operational services form airport handling to inflight and loyalty point's decision are involved in this category of supply chain.

The decisions taken at operational level should be aligned with the overall business strategy (Baier, Christian, Evi Hartmann, and Roger 42). The business has a mission to offer best customer care and differentiate on the basis of offered services and hospitality to the consumers. Therefore the operational supply chain decisions should also be taken in consideration with the corporate vision of the business. The overall business strategy to become a business hub in the Middle East to connect Europe through their airline services is also vital in taking decision about the operational supply chain.

Operational Decisions:

The operational decisions about customer services are identified as critical for the business success. The business has various other competitors operating in the world (Stevenson, William and Mehran Hojati 122). These competitors are not only huge as compared with Etihad but they are also havingextensiveexperience in the industry. In order to compete with these business giants the business should take operational decisions to provide best possible services to the consumers with relatively lower price.

The company is required to make decisions about the customer services based on its mission for providing hospitable services. These decisions include providing a user friendly website to book flights and holidays. It can also provide pick up and extensive airport services including the hospitable lounges. The inflight services are also critical for differentiating on the basis of hospitality. The customers should be able to clearly define the difference between rivals and Etihad services.

The business can possibly take a decision to use ceramic crockery for serving during the flight operations and offer best possible inflight safety and entertainment options. The usage of ceramic crockery throughout all the class of the flight will increase its care and executive level of service quality. The safety information provided could also be offered on the basis of on demandrepeat ion and demonstration. The business can also offer also the customers about their preferences about entertainment on flight.

Productivity:

Productivity of the business is measured in terms of the resources used and the results produced over time. Etihad airways can measure the productivity is terms of its annual operational results (Kleymann, Birgit, and Hannu Seristo 130). The business is focused to achieve its objectives through crating a brand image that caters in hospitable environment. Therefore the business should also measure its productively in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty of its clients.