Introduction
Fly Dubai was named as a low cost airline of the year in Year 2011 Business Awards just two years after it opened its wings to the air space of United Arab Emirates among other surrounding regions. It is the newest airlines in UAE flying to about 48 destinations found in the, GCC, Subcontinent, Middle East Belt, Africa, Central and East Europe.
The Airliner offers services to connect to the passengers destinations through Dubai with no extra issues or charges. This paper will therefore concentrate on explaining about the company in holistic approach starting from company profile to its position in the industry.
Fly Dubai’s Short History and Profile
FlyDubai was formed in the year 2009 on May as a limited liability company. The major shareholder is the Government of UAE and the Chairman of the Board of Directors is Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
In the management position, the CEO is Ghaith Saeed Khalaf Al Gaith, Hamad Obaidallah as the Chief Commercial Officer and Neil Mills is the Chief Financial Officer among others. The carrier has positioned itself as a low cost airliner that combines quality, efficiency, high standards as well as innovations in the aerospace industry in Middle East.
This is clearly illustrated by the awards Low Cost Airliner of the Year, Technology Implementation of the Year award and Personal Achievement of the Year for the CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith. It has been recognized as one of the new airliners in the industry that has championed high standards of quality service as well as amenities that serve to maintain the region’s standards. This is particularly impressive on the fact that the services offered are convenient and affordable for travel whether on business or economic class.
In a survey conducted by You Gov Siraj, (Attwood, 2010) it was noted that an increased number of business personality have turned to Low Cost Carriers, 64 percent as compared to 48 percent in 2009. Fly Dubai has thus positioned itself together with other LCCs like Sharjah’s Air Arabia, Fly Dubai, Nasair and Bahrain as the leading champion. It therefore stands to benefit with the increased growth towards low cost flights by the business world especially for connecting to India.
Fly Dubai’s presence in the Industry
Fly Dubai offers about 46 destinations flights services to the Middle East, Europe and Parts of Africa. The booking offers three types of fare that offers flexibility. The three fares include ‘No Change’, ‘Pay Change’ and ‘Free Change’ categories which include the price of the seat, all taxes and one handbag that weighs up to 7 kg as well as a small laptop bag or handbag.
This probably explains its attraction to many business experts as well as its rising role as leader in Low Cost Carrier category of the aerospace industry in UAE. FlyDubai has outlined four ways for booking namely, the fly dubai.com website as the most convenient, cheap and easy way. Secondly, a client can use the fly Dubai’s call centre, fly Dubai travel shop and travel patterns to book a flight all at a small fee for the services.
In addition, the booking system of Fly Dubai allows clients to choose on option extras that require small fees and can allow seat selection as well as legroom determination. The airline keeps the checking-in time strict and efficient with stipulated hours followed as expected. For the traveling with checked baggage a client is not supposed to arrive later than 60 minutes before take off while for traveling without checked baggage arriving less than 60 minutes before take off means no traveling and no refund (Fly Dubai, 2012).
In the bagging policy besides an allowance of the 7 kg baggage plus a laptop of small handbag, there is the option of pre-purchasing a 20, 30 or 40 kg checked baggage. The 7 kg baggage must not be more than 56 cm x 45 cm x 25cm and no other single piece of the three pieces allowed should weigh more than 32 kg as well as exceed 75 cm x 55 cm x 35 cm. A client can acquire pre-purchased baggage at an airport using the applicable per kilo rate. This forms the baggage policy.
Fly Dubai does not offer refunds to its clients instead fly Dubai vouchers are used. The ‘No change’ fare means absolutely there is no change of fare once paid hence no refund if flight is cancelled. Clients benefit from the pay to change program by choosing a flight at only AED 100 or by just loosing AED 150 if they cancel the flight (Fly Dubai, 2012).
With the ‘Free to change’ fare program flexibility is maintained by a minimum cost. A 100AED charge is dropped when changes are done in 24 hours before take off. If the flight is changed in less than 24 hours time before departure each person is charged AED 365 per flight and payment of the higher difference must occur while on the lower side fly Dubai voucher is issued.
Since there are no refunds, fly vouchers are given to clients who must have valid PINs, be person named on the voucher and be named travelers. Other promotions offered include refreshments vouchers issued in three hours interval schedules incase of delayed flights. FlyDubai allows it clients to choose their options for return travel after cancellation or rescheduling of flight as it informs the client on the new developments. These form some of the promotion mechanisms that FlyDubai has exercised to one of the best in the industry.
In terms of paying FlyDubai offers Master Card or visa as the two ways that clients can use to pay. FlyDubai holds the booking for 24 hours to allow payment through its partners. The use of credit card to pay for someone else allows also for flexibility as a way to market FlyDubai.
Nonetheless the photocopy of the credit card and passport are needed at the airport where failure to produce them leads to denied permission to travel. This is a measure to enhance security for its clients. To make payments easier, FlyDubai has partnered with a number of partners in the most efficient system that incorporates the factors of flexibility, distance, geography and choice.
A client can pay through a FlyDubai travel shop using cash, use UAE exchange, Emirates Post, Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, ADCB among others. These partners offer unique, fresh and different ways of accessing the FlyDubai payment services for purposes of convenience. Other partners like UAE visas help in acquisition of visas, Bus services allows connection to ground terminals like Abu Dhabi just like the great services of Car rental (Fly Dubai, 2012).
Conclusion
The airliner is one of the most promising carriers in Middle East and surrounding regions. With its clear usage of technology, efficiency, use of high standards, Fly Dubai proves the leading LCC enjoying a large market share in its short life span. Although a number of employee capacities are still under application review the company has proved its capability thus when the full team comes on board then it will grab attentions in the world class airliners.
References
Attwod, E., (2010). UAE executives turn to budget airlines in 2010. Web.
Fly Dubai, (2012). Fly Dubai. Web.