The Impact Of COVID-19 On Emirates: A Literature Review

Background and Objectives

The aim of this paper is to discuss impact of covid-19 on Emirates. It has been studied by various experts that sudden outbreak of covid pandemic created a negative impact in the business, which further reduced their profit margin to a huge extent (Singh and Shaik 2021). Many businesses operating in airline industry witnessed lockdown. It is analysed from different studies that a firm might be impacted with lowered rate of growth due to an air of uncertainty about the future because of covid-19 (Belhadi et al. 2021).

Hence, the objective of this paper is to discuss literature review, which includes industry background and key academic concepts as well as understanding main goal for understanding a clear rationale. This is followed by background or consultancy, where company profile is discussed and understanding problem or opportunity that is grounded with evidence. In addition to that, the background of chosen business is also assessed. Furthermore, aims and objectives are discussed along with research methodology. Project plan and timescale are evaluated where total time taken for the research paper will be assessed.

In the study published by AL MANSOORI, ALSAUD, and YAS, (2021), the author explained that covid-19 created a major impact on businesses as it influences major health concerns among people across the world. The author further explained that rising challenges due to different environment factors and implementation of worldwide lockdown can alter customer demands to a huge extent (AL MANSOORI, ALSAUD, and YAS 2021). On the other hand, airline industry is highly influenced by customer demands and their perception (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). Airline industry is also involved with transformation of supply chain and adapting to constant customer shifts as well as leveraging loyalty. In addition to that, the airline industry is highly impacted because it requires reimaging partners and considering customer needs or requirements.

Within the aviation subsectors, aviation industry is considered to be the biggest destructors of value due to lack of proper supply chain in the business (Shanableh et al. 2022). Outbreak of covid-19 pandemic led to damage of economic stability of many airline firms. In addition to that, it is observed that the sector (airline sector) witnesses a loss of 168 billion by the end of 2020 (Rizvi et al. 2021). Even though, the temptation is aimed to pin the blame on covid-19 pandemic however, it is also due to its underlying issues in terms of safety of customers. Not only in 2020, the airline business failed to improve or overcome the challenges caused by covid-19 pandemic. As a result, the firms had to lower their negotiating power with customers as well as suppliers (Rizvi et al. 2021).

Another study shows that, during covid-19 pandemic in 2020, robust demand was observed for air cargo, which was driven by PPE or protective personal equipment & medications (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). However, by mid of 2021, the demand of air cargo dropped with increased number of grounded passenger planes (Rizvi et al. 2021). As a result, it also restricted belly capacity, which further impacted the profit margin of air cargo businesses to a huge extent. It has been observed by various experts that by end of 2022, the demand of air cargo will increase and the airline companies those are affected due to covid pandemic might be able to overcome their concerns and retain a stable brand image or revenue growth (Rizvi et al. 2021).

Literature Review

As discussed above, airline industry is affected by the covid-19, hence it is necessary for the government and industrialists to implement appropriate measures to overcome these issues and retain stable growth. The selected organization for this paper is Emirates. This is a popular aviation sector, which operates across the United Arab Emirates. Emirates is located near Etihad, and headquartered in Garhoud (Dubai) (emirates 2022). This business is owned by Investment Corporation of Dubai (Dubai’s government) and it is also known as the largest airline across the Middle East (emirates 2022). Hence, the firm is observed to operate more than 3600 flights each week from the Terminal 3 of Dubai International Airport even before outbreak of pandemic in 2020 (emirates 2022).

This brand or Emirates operates in approximately 150 cities across 80 countries worldwide (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). Cargo activities are operated by Emirates SkyCargo, who has key people named Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (both founder and CEO of Emirates) whereas Tim Clark is the present president of Emirates (Teixidó et al. 2021). Revenue collected by Emirates in 2020 is observed to be 16.7 billion dollars, whereas the net income of Emirates is estimated to be 5.5 billion dollars (Teixidó et al. 2021). This brand (Emirates) operates a mixed fleet of Boeing wide-body aircraft & Airbus are one of the few airlines that operates an all-wide-body aircraft fleet (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020).

Market overview of airline industry shows that the sector is constantly faced with rising customer demand (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). Favourable external factors have helped the aviation industry to improve infrastructure and expand their customer base. In addition to that, the global aviation analytics showed that the market size is 1.93 billion dollars till the end of financial year (2020) (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). This is because, of higher project of growth in this sector, which also helped them to increase the business (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). The growth is forecasted to be from 2.02 billion dollars in 2021 to 4.36 billion dollars by 2028. Furthermore, it is comprised of a 11.58 per cent of growth rate (Barbato and Thomas 2021).

Key trends in the sector includes airport ownership transition, consolidation, digital security, traffic growth, airport cities or aerotropolis (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). However, location-based services are considered to be highly effective as it includes targeted marketing and information regarding store location or discounts in the airport (Han et al. 2021). This will enable customers to use advanced technology in airports for gaining higher satisfaction with the service (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). This is different from airport ownership transition, where the businesses will develop a public-private partnership to any concession-based operator and establish fully private airports. On the other hand, airport cities include transformation to a social club that include passengers to meet, experience or rest an increasing array of customer services (Ghandour 2020).

Business environment or from PESTLE framework, it can be observed that Emirates witness a strong political stability from the market due to presence of effective political power (Suau-Sanchez, Voltes-Dorta. and Cugueró-Escofet 2020). In addition to that, the economic stability of UAE might be affected due to covid pandemic, however constant approach taken by the government will help to overcome this issue (Cheikh Ismail et al. 2021). Rising demand for effective airline service shows that Emirates will witness major advantage from the market (Cheikh Ismail et al. 2020). Legal factors show that the brand will be able to expand their business to various regions. On the other hand, different challenges with environment might be a great challenge for the entire industry (Alqasemi et al. 2021).

Impact of COVID-19 on the Aviation Industry

The aim of this research is to identify what challenges that Emirates might witness in the next 5 years due to covid-19 outbreak.

Objectives:

• To understand what are the changes needed to make or implement methods to overcome the challenge caused by covid-19.
• To identify key trends that can help Emirates to re-establish their brand image in the market and continue their business operations for gaining a stable growth from the market.
• To identify what are the challenges that will reduce Emirate’s profit margin or rate of revenue growth.
• To identify innovative methods by analysing market trends and forecast for gaining a competitive advantage.

Research question:

What are the challenges Emirates will face in next 5 years due to Covid-19?

This is one of the important sections in research paper, where the individual is able to understand accuracy of the paper and implement appropriate measures to increase its effectiveness. Research methodology is defined as the specific measures or techniques where one is able to identify, select, process as well as analyse different information about a topic. Generally, there are four types of research methodology, which includes observational, experimental, derived and simulation. In this case, observation method will be used for achieving maximum efficiency of the paper. Furthermore, the paper will use both primary data collection as well as secondary data collection method.

Under primary data collection method, surveys and questionnaires will be conducted where the individual will focus on interviewing different customers using Emirate’s airline. In addition to that, online survey will also be conducted to understand the perception of customers and also to identify any underlying risk present in this firm apart from covid-19. On the other hand, information from secondary data will also be provided, which will involve journals, books, articles and similar other secondary sources.

There might be challenges while conducting the survey or interviews as many customers might not provide proper reviews, which will create a research gap. In addition to that, the information found online or from secondary sources might not provide an appropriate idea about the airline industry in next 5 years. However, strict ethical considerations will be made during primary data collection methods, and any customers will not be forced to provide their review for this research paper.

Figure 1: Gantt chart or timetable of the research

Source: author

In the first week, focus on deciding the research topic has been done. Analysing different sources and trends, impact of covid-19 on Emirates is selected. This is followed by data collection in week 2 to 5, which will include both secondary as well as primary data collection method. As a result, this approach might help to increase overall accuracy and effectiveness of this research paper or dissertation. In week 6 to week 7, analysis will be done of the data collected. Lastly, the research paper will be completed in week 8 to week 9.

Conclusion 

Lastly, the paper can be concluded by saying that covid-19 created a major impact in the airline industry. The selected organization for this paper is Emirates. This is a popular aviation sector, which operates across the United Arab Emirates. Emirates is located near Etihad, and headquartered in Garhoud (Dubai). Market overview of airline industry shows that the sector is constantly faced with rising customer demand. Business environment or from PESTLE framework, it can be observed that Emirates witness a strong political stability from the market due to presence of effective political power. In addition to that, the economic stability of UAE might be affected due to covid pandemic, however constant approach taken by the government will help to overcome this issue. Revenue collected by Emirates in 2020 is observed to be 16.7 billion dollars, whereas the net income of Emirates is estimated to be 5.5 billion dollars. Favourable external factors have helped the aviation industry to improve infrastructure and expand their customer base. In addition to that, the global aviation analytics showed that the market size is 1.93 billion dollars. This research paper will use both primary data collection as well as secondary data collection method.

References

AL MANSOORI, H.M., ALSAUD, A.B. and YAS, H., 2021. The impact of Covid 19 on increasing the cost of labor and project price in the United Arab Emirates. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research, 13(1).

Alqasemi, A.S., Hereher, M.E., Kaplan, G., Al-Quraishi, A.M.F. and Saibi, H., 2021. Impact of COVID-19 lockdown upon the air quality and surface urban heat island intensity over the United Arab Emirates. Science of The Total Environment, 767, p.144330.

Barbato, M. and Thomas, J., 2021. In this together: Psychological wellbeing of foreign workers in the United Arab Emirates during the COVID?19 pandemic. International Journal of Psychology, 56(6), pp.825-833.

Belhadi, A., Kamble, S., Jabbour, C.J.C., Gunasekaran, A., Ndubisi, N.O. and Venkatesh, M., 2021. Manufacturing and service supply chain resilience to the COVID-19 outbreak: Lessons learned from the automobile and airline industries. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 163, p.120447.

Cheikh Ismail, L., Mohamad, M.N., Bataineh, M.A.F., Ajab, A., Al-Marzouqi, A.M., Jarrar, A.H., Abu Jamous, D.O., Ali, H.I., Al Sabbah, H., Hasan, H. and Stojanovska, L., 2021. Impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) lockdown on mental health and well-being in the United Arab Emirates. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, p.265.

Cheikh Ismail, L., Osaili, T.M., Mohamad, M.N., Al Marzouqi, A., Jarrar, A.H., Abu Jamous, D.O., Magriplis, E., Ali, H.I., Al Sabbah, H., Hasan, H. and AlMarzooqi, L.M., 2020. Eating habits and lifestyle during COVID-19 lockdown in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 12(11), p.3314.

emirates, 2022. Book a flight | Emirates. [online] UAE. Available at: <https://www.emirates.com/english/book/?gclid=CjwKCAjwrqqSBhBbEiwAlQeqGigKr186wYQ_DjJK0bW_YbIScWuwdaCdA53ZYc1t996qJH1mGaIvqxoC1ZAQAvD_BwE&gcldata-src=aw.ds> [Accessed 4 April 2022].

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Han, H., Koo, B., Ariza-Montes, A., Lee, Y. and Kim, H.R., 2021. Are airline workers planning career turnover in a post-COVID-19 world? Assessing the impact of risk perception about virus infection and job instability. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 48, pp.460-467.

Rizvi, S., Rustum, R., Deepak, M., Wright, G.B. and Arthur, S., 2021. Identifying and analyzing residential water demand profile; including the impact of COVID-19 and month of Ramadan, for selected developments in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Water Supply, 21(3), pp.1144-1156.

Shanableh, A., Al-Ruzouq, R., Khalil, M.A., Gibril, M.B.A., Hamad, K., Alhosani, M., Stietiya, M.H., Bardan, M.A., Mansoori, S.A. and Hammouri, N.A., 2022. COVID-19 Lockdown and the Impact on Mobility, Air Quality, and Utility Consumption: A Case Study from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Sustainability, 14(3), p.1767.

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