Why Emirates has launched a high-decibel campaign to promote the planes in India even though the country is still not on the A-380 map.
For Emirates, it has been a major product differentiator, giving the airline an edge over its rivals. So a few days after A-380’s maiden commercial flight in Delhi last month, the airline launched a high-decibel advertising campaign talking about the virtues of the new big machine in the sky.
The ongoing sales pitch on prime time TV as well as the print media has a simple message: Emirates’ A-380 planes offer connectivity to over 11 destinations – something no other airline offers. And of course it lets you have your own private bar 48,000 feet above sea level and allows you to catch up on a steam shower or a session at the spa. First and business class passengers will also have private suites and fully-flat seats respectively. There are contoured seats in the economy class spread across four roomy cabins on the lower deck.
But why is Emirates, which has still not launched regular A-380 flights in India, pushing the product in the country so aggressively? Majid Al Mualla, Dubai-based senior vice president (west Asia and Indian Ocean) of Emirates, has his answer ready. “We are flying to 11 destinations on the A-380 across the world and quite a few of these places figure on the most popular list of Indians. In any case, we have plans to come to India,” says Majid.
Emirates also wants to build up the brand because there is a large market from India. Eighty per cent of Indian passengers on Emirates transit from Dubai to non GCC countries. The UK, US and France are among the top three destinations of passengers from India. In all these destinations, Emirates has already launched A-380 flights. He argues that the feedback he is getting is interesting: passengers from India are ready to wait for a couple of hours more and even for a day if they have the option of flying on an A-380 on these routes.
The reason why the advertising campaign is targeted more at the business and first class passengers than those flying economy is this: About 20 to 30 per cent of Indians travelling on Emirates are business and first class travellers on long haul flights. The airline offers another value proposition that many of the competitors do not. Despite its larger seats and value-added facilities, the fare for the A-380 in business and first class is almost the same as other flights on Emirates.
Majid says India is the second largest market for the airline, after its home country. Emirates has 184 flights from 10 destinations and has already exhausted its bilateral entitlement of around 50,000 seats a week. More importantly, India is among the few markets that grew during the recession last year. The expectation is that the market will grow 10-15 per cent this year too. “India is a large market for us which has helped us get out of recession. So any new product must be advertised in a big way in this market,” Majid says
In any case, India will surely be one of the destinations for the A-380 once it gets more aircraft on the ground. “There are three reasons for deploying an A-380: The country must have the infrastructure to handle it; there should be demand in the market and bilateral agreements should allow it,” says Majid.
The good news is that the refurbished Delhi airport already has the infrastructure to handle these large aircraft, Two, Emirates has a load factor of over 80 per cent (it has four daily flights from Delhi and five from Mumbai). The third – bilateral – is still a problem, but negotiations are on to expand the number of seats allowed – and the A-380 would come into India much sooner than expected.
Majid says Emirates is already looking at options to get the aircraft in India during peak seasons like festivals, when the Indian government gives more capacity.
Analysts add another dimension to the new ad campaign: Emirates has booked the maximum number of A-380s amongst global airlines – so they want to leverage that position by telling its passengers that the airline is a premium product. Besides, Emirates wants to have the first-mover advantage in India especially as airlines like Lufthansa, Air France, British Airways and even Qantas have had discussions with the Delhi airport authorities about getting their A-380s in.
So watch this space for the next big marketing battle in the Indian skies.
