Company Description
Rotana Jet is an Airline Company in the United Arab Emirates operating both Scheduled Airline and Executive Charter services. Rotana Jet aims at improving its services and connectivity not only to the Arabian Gulf region, but also to the entire world.
In its operations, the company has maintained standard benchmarks in order to enhance safety, quality, and apt customer service (“Rotana Jet: About Us” par. 2).
The Company has a vision of expanding its fleet, capabilities, and route networks as techniques of meeting the frequently changing needs of the market.
Simultaneously, Rotana Jet intends to deliver new and innovative services and products to its clients in order to gain competitive advantage over its competitors in the crowded airline industry.
Currently, the company operates in Sir Bani Yas Island, Dalma Island, Fujairah and Al Ain, as well as Johannesburg, London and Singapore.
Description of Operations
The Airline Company has operating bases for domestic services at Al‐Bateen Executive Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport.
At Al‐Bateen Executive Airport, which is the main operating base, the airline has a Technical Operations division that maintains aircrafts and provides component support for the ERJ145 and G450 aircrafts (“Rotana Jet: About Us” par. 4).
On-site division saves on cost of maintenance and component support as compared to a situation where a company outsources such services. Rotana Jet offers scheduled Airline services in which it has schedule to expand its route network to places like Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah.
The location of the main airport is exceptionally strategic to tap both domestic passengers and corporate clients. Since the company operates on flight services, it has moved to add a new Airbus A319ER, which carries 34 more passengers than the legendary Gulfstream G450.
At the same time, the company has ensured that it increases output by purchasing 50-seater Airbuses that can fly non-stop from Casablanca to Abu Dhabi (“Rotana Jet: About Us” par. 7).
In using two jets in the Regional Airline Fleet, Rotana Jet is improving the overall output of its services.
The overall outputs in the operations are mainly non-tangible, such as high customer satisfaction, high returns on investments, and increased customer loyalty. The airline industry being a service-based industry ensures that it offers quality services to its customers.
Supply Chain Decisions
Rotana Jet has a well-organised network that handles products and services from the suppliers to final consumers. In this network, the company plans and manages all activities in collaboration with channel partners, customers, fleet suppliers, and third-party service providers.
Figure 1: Rotana Jet Supply Chain
Third party service providers in the supply chain are companies that provide other services at the airport such as refreshments, transport, and rooms for accommodation (Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa 18). They also handle cargos at the airport and even take care of them while on transit.
Fleet suppliers are airline construction firms that ensure that the airline company does not have shortage of aircrafts. Suppliers ensure that materials like ticketing machines and other non-strategic materials are available for use by customers.
Channel partners, on the other hand, are organisations that cooperate with Rotana Jet to ensure efficiency in service provision. For example, the Abu Dhabi International Airport management ensures that the runways are decent for landings and take-offs at all time.
Customers are the final users of the services in the industry; they interact with the supply manager, as well as third party service providers in pursuit of quality services.
The Rotana Jet supply manager in the supply chain coordinates all the activities in the airline industry in a streamlined manner to ensure that the company meets its strategic objectives in the end (Kopczak and Johnson par. 9).
To enable Rotana Jet gain competitive advantage in the market, operations manager must rely on effective supply chains. They must understand the needs of the customers and other members in the supply chain in order to increase overall satisfaction for all.
The supply chain can increase the number of passengers, as well as cargo bookings if it is managed properly.
In line with the above supply chain, the operational manager will also have to make inclusive decisions that encompass the interests of all the stakeholders in the company (Sanders 26). Markedly, all the stakeholders in the supply chain play vital roles in smooth operation of Rotana Jet.
Therefore, the management must take into account their demands when making strategic decisions. From the company’s website, it is evident that the company keeps maintaining customers’ loyalty through cost-cutting moves.
For instance, in its promotion, the fare inclusive of taxes from Abu Dhabi to Sir Bani Yas Island is AED 200, but an Airline Company like the Fly Emirates does not access such routes (Taylor and Raden par. 5).
This move has enabled Rotana Jet to respond to public requests to serve regions that other airline companies have not accessed. Moreover, in 2012, this airline company became the first Domestic Airline to begin operating between Sir Bani Yas Island and Al‐Bateen Executive Airport.
At the same time, Rotana Jet intends to expand its networks to remote areas like Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah. In other areas, the company had to cut cost in order to attract customers to use their services given that there is no difference from other companies.
Operational Decisions
Among the ten critical operational decisions, the case study discusses location strategy as a key factor in the success of Rotana Jet Company. Based on the services that the company offers, it decided to choose an airport on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City Centre.
The unique location made it suitable for both domestic passengers and corporate clients to access it.
Since operational decision-making is an asset for all companies, the company will have to locate other airports in areas that are close to major cities in the world in order to make their decisions great corporate assets (Taylor par. 6).
Proximity of airports to town centres increases the number of customers into the premises, and even makes it easy for an airline company to reach the potential consumers. In accessing the untapped market, Rotana Jet went on to set its foot in Dalma Island and Sir Bani Yas Island.
In future, the company should move into regions that are near to city centres given the easy accessibility of such regions for all customers. Such decisions will enable Rotana Jet to receive many customers and passengers, thus increasing its volume of business transactions.
With flights presenting numerous risks to neighbourhoods, location of future airports should consider nearby buildings, the maximum allowable heights, and distance of such structures from the airport.
Since Rotana Jet Company targets to maximise growth and expand its clients’ base in the future, the above decisions on location strategy will help in realising the strategic goals and objectives of the airline company (Taylor and Raden par. 8).
Productivity
Determining productivity within this industry is measured by comparing the amounts of resources committed towards daily operations and the returns on investment received from the same clients (Hoenig 58).
The Company can automate all its services, such as online ticketing of flights and accommodations. This will reduce the cost of maintaining employees who had been dealing with manual bookings. Additionally, there will be no queuing for services, hence increasing efficiency in the end.
This reciprocates to increase in ROI. For example, assuming that the total monthly expenses are $300,000 and the gross returns in the same month are $505,000, the company will have a net profit of $205,000, implying that it is productive.
When it comes to defining the operational management strategy for the company, one must keep in mind that the company’s productivity depends highly on two basic factors, i.e., the speed of information processing and the quality of the equipment, which predisposes such important aspect of the flight operations as passengers’ comfort and safety.
Therefore, it is crucial that two major improvements should be made to the Rotana Jet Company.
To start with, information management must be upgraded to the point at which the principles of shared information are integrated into the company’s principles of production process organization.
As recent researches say, most misconceptions and misunderstandings leading to major mistakes, which, in turn, can affect the quality of the flight and, in the worst case scenario, claim passengers’ lives, stem from the inaccessibility of information regarding the flight schedule, as well as low speed of information transfer concerning the changes in the flight schedule.
Therefore, it is crucial that the information concerning flights, as well as the state of the aircrafts and the results of the recently conducted airplane audits, should be available to every member of the company.
More to the point, every member should be made aware of the recent changes that occurred to the flight schedule, which can be achieved by introducing the principles of knowledge sharing.
Another nonetheless important aspect that the quality of flights depends on concerns the professionalism of the employees. Firms that constantly engage their employees in trainings, seminars, and workshops do realise growth (Hammond, Keeney, and Raiffa 37).
This growth comes in hand with stakeholders’ trust. For example, the move will develop loyalty among customers due to quality service provision.
Businesses ought to be proactive and remain focussed on achieving their strategic objectives; therefore, the organizations must be open to learn new ideas to develop new knowledge.
The Coca-Cola Company will continue to dominate the soft drink industry over its closest rival Pepsi if I use the above options to improve productivity.It is imperative that the staff should be trained regularly and that their skills should be upgraded every year at the very last.
With competent staff and updated equipment, Rotana Jet will be able to provide its customers with the services of the finest quality.
Works Cited
Hammond, John S., Ralph L. Keeney, and Howard Raiffa. Smart Choices: a Practical Guide to Making Better Life Decisions. New York: Broadway Books, 2002. Print.
Hoenig, Christopher. The Problem-Solving Journey: Your Guide to Making Decisions and Getting Results. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus Pub., 2000. Print.
Kopczak, Laura Rock, and Eric Johnson. The Supply-Chain Management Effect. MIT Sloan Management Review RSS. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 15 Apr. 2003. Web.
Rotana Jet: About Us. Rotana Jet. N.p., n.d. Web.
Sanders, Ralph. The Executive Decision-Making Process Identifying Problems and Assessing Outcomes. Westport, Conn.: Quorum, 1999. Print.
Taylor, James, and Neil Raden. The Importance and Benefits of Operational Decision Making. Search Business Analytics. N.p., 4 July 2007. Web.
Taylor, James. Operational Decision Making as a Corporate Asset. JT on EDM RSS. N.p., 27 Jan. 2010. Web.