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Archive for October 10th, 2008

This is a photo showing airplanes from Emirate...

Image via Wikipedia

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Emirates Airline has placed the largest order of the largest plane in the world. They will eventually have 58 A380s - one third of the total orders Airbus has received till date. Their first A380 that flew from Dubai to New York City on Aug 1, 2008 dazzled everyone with exclusive showers in the First Class and a plush bar for Business Class, along with an overloaded in-flight entertainment system across all classes. Luxury and novelty was the name of the game. But will this last?

Three questions for Emirates

  1. Once Emirates has 58 of these double-decker planes flying around the world, will they still be able to maintain such high product standards across the fleet?
  2. How will service consistency be ensured?
  3. How will Emirates ensure that the right expectations are set among customers for A380s with different configurations?Emirates VP for the Americas, Nigel Page, doused our curiosity with his forthcoming replies on these issues.

Three A380 configs, Two types of aircraft, Single minded focus on service

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Nigel explained that “Emirates will have two versions of the aircraft the ULR (Ultra Long Range) with…489 seats [in three classes], and an Intermediate range version with two configurations - a three class version with 507 seats and a two class version with 625 seats.”

So how doest Emirates ensure service consistency on-board for planes carrying anywhere from 400 to 625 passengers? Nigel revealed that Emirates “cabin crew will be trained and licensed to operate all three versions of the aircraft.” To ensure that a consistently high standard of service is maintained, every new cabin crew will be provided with comprehensive training in Emirates’ state-of-the-art training college in Dubai. Moreover, on the ULR, Emirates will carry two cabin attendants to supervise the showers and ensure they are cleaned after each use! Now that’s some dedication.

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