{"id":16292,"date":"2016-11-17T18:58:13","date_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/emirates-airlines-a-quest-for-service-quality\/"},"modified":"2016-11-17T18:58:13","modified_gmt":"2016-11-17T23:58:13","slug":"emirates-airlines-a-quest-for-service-quality","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/emirates-airlines-a-quest-for-service-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"Emirates Airlines: A Quest for Service Quality"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first wave of digitalization materially increased competitive pressures in the airline industry. Before the internet, flight tickets were physically sold at travel agencies, which made price comparison a hard task and favored large airlines with brand recognition and capital to sponsor expensive in-store distribution channels. \u00a0The shift to online sales enabled consumers to compare prices on a real time basis, changing the way airlines compete. Air travel became commoditized, with clients placing much greater emphasis on prices than on service. Multiple low cost airlines emerged and, by offering cheap prices, became a relevant threat to incumbent players. Research suggests that this focus on price, caused by the internet adoption, increased flight delays and adversely affected airlines’ incentives to provide quality service [1].<\/p>\n

By challenging the poor service quality norm that became synonymous with the airline industry, Emirates Airlines grew from a small operation funded by a U$ 10 million Dubai Government investment in the 90s to the world’s fourth-largest airline by international traffic nowadays. This accomplishment is closely related to its strategy of maximizing quality through innovation without focusing much on price competition. So far, Emirates has been the pioneer in leveraging some aspects of the digital transformation to deliver better customer service:<\/p>\n

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